Brown, Alexander, 1851 – 1926

Alexander Brown was born in 1851 at Maitland, New South Wales. He married Mary Ellen Ribbands in 1872 at West Maitland. In 1873 he was admitted as a solicitor and in 1877 entered J. & A. Brown, a firm founded by his uncles James and Alexander Brown. In 1883 he was dismissed from the firm by his uncle James Brown, for selling the Ferndale Colliery without approval. In 1884 Brown initiated two unsuccessful Supreme Court actions against the firm. He relinquished his interest in J. & A. Brown in return for an interest in the New Lambton Colliery which he turned into the New Lambton Land & Coal Co. Ltd in 1891.

Between 1889 and 1891 Brown represented Newcastle in the NSW Legislative Assembly as a Protectionist. He was a supporter of George Dibbs, who was also a director of New Lambton Land and Coal Co. Ltd. Brown was nominated to the Legislative Council in 1892 and remained an MLC until 1926. From 1892 to 1896 he was first president of the Hunter District Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Brown died at his home, 'Cumberland Hall' at West Maitland.