[1][2][3][4][5][6] Born on 14 July 1789, the youngest and only surviving son of successful brewer and banker Timothy Brown and his second wife Sarah Huxham (née Lowndes).
Evelyn Wrench wrote that Yeats Brown "was always amused by the banter of his friends who observed that he might very easily have had a Jewish grandmother".
In 1814 he met Swiss metallurgist Johann Conrad Fischer, who was visiting England to see how iron and steel were manufactured there, and Yeats Brown showed him the "treasures of his valuable library".
[4][7][9] Yeats Brown lived at Manchester Square in Marylebone, and entertained many Italian liberals in London, which Wrench states probably later drew him to Italy.
Erskine was unable to give his daughter any financial help, with the dowry taking the form of two half crowns, which were later passed down in the family as mementos.