Tom Brown

Who was Tom Brown?

Sir Thomas Brown was born in Kirkleatham, in present day Redcar and Cleveland, England. He was a hero of the Battle of Dettingen, in Bavaria during the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the last time that a British monarch personally led his troops into battle. Brown fought as a private soldier in Bland's Hussars. He had two horses killed under him, and had lost two fingers from his left hand, but when the regiment's standard was captured he galloped into the thickest of fighting and recovered it, receiving eight cuts in his face, head, and neck, as well as two bullets in his back and a cut across his forehead that went down to his right eyebrow. He also had his nose cut off. On the battlefield he was knighted as a Knight banneret by King George II, becoming the last man to be so honoured.

Brown died in Yarm in 1746 and is buried there in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene's church. His grave can still be seen and is now marked with a replica of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone, and was presented the th Queen's Own Hussars, in 1968.