Born in Blackburn in Lancashire, Brothers was educated at Blackburn Technical College, where he obtained top marks in the City and Guilds of London Institute examination.
[4] The Cardroom Amalgamation was the only major cotton trade union without a member of Parliament,[5] and they sponsored Brothers as a Labour Party candidate in Birmingham Duddeston at the 1922 general election.
He was unsuccessful, but pursued his political career with election to Blackburn Borough Council in 1928.
This hope proved incorrect, and the industry in Blackburn suffered most from the new barriers to export.
[4] He lost his seat in Parliament at the 1931 general election, and left the council in 1932,[2] but remained involved with Labour as a member of its National Executive Committee, on which he represented the United Textile Factory Workers' Association from 1930 until 1939.