Whitford Brown

Who was Whitford Brown?

Whitford James Brown, OBE CBE was the foundation mayor of Porirua City, a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, for 21 years from 1962 to 1983. Porirua, when "Brownie" and "Francie" moved there, was part of what was then called the Makara County Council. In 1961, the Local Government Commission deemed that Porirua should become a borough. The region had its first elections in October 1962, and, since Brownie had already been involved in local affairs since shifting there from Wanganui, they became Porirua's first Mayor and Mayoress.