William Roger Brown

He was born in 1831, the son of James Brown, a tea merchant, of Highfield, Hilperton (near Trowbridge, Wiltshire), and Bath.

[9] Between 1887 and 1889 he also paid for the building of the Trowbridge Town Hall, at a cost of some £20,000 (equivalent to £2,792,241 in 2023) to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

[4] During his lifetime, a marble bust of Brown by Edward Sheppard, inscribed to commemorate his donation, was placed on the staircase of the town hall.

[2] Brown's wife died on 6 December 1899,[11] and soon after he built and endowed two blocks of almshouse cottages in her memory, to house six widows.

[1] Known as Lady Brown's Cottage Homes,[4] they still stand on Polebarn Road, Trowbridge, altered to make five dwellings.