Joe Brown

Who is Joe Brown?

Joseph Brown, CBE is an English climber, born the seventh and last child of a family in the Manchester suburb of Ardwick. Joe was the first one of his family to start climbing: he and his friends at the age of 12 began their adventures of exploring from camp sites. Unlike other climbers, he and his friends used discarded clothes lines that were unreliable to use even for clothes, yet the boys still used them to climb. Joe was employed by a company called Archies where he was apprenticed to a plumber and general builder. He became famous for climbing during the 1950s, and was a member of the Valkyrie climbing club and founding member of the Rock and Ice climbing club. An early climbing partner was Don Whillans, a fellow Mancunian and a plumber. They were among the first of a new breed of post-war climbers from working-class backgrounds, in contrast to the upper and middle-class professionals who had dominated the sport up to World War II.

Joe, still with his passion for climbing, was enlisted in 1949-50 for 18 months in the Ordnance Corps where he spent his free time climbing with his friends. Joe suffered one of many accidents from not climbing when he broke his leg in three places in a scrum for the tea urn. However, this event did not hold him down as he was back up and climbing 3 months later.