Page 5 - HW November 2019

JF Brown was an Englishman Brushmaker, the son of a Brushmaker.
James must have gone home one evening with some monumental news: “We are leaving Whitechapel Mrs Brown. I am taking you and our young child to the other side of the planet to establish a new life and make some Brushes and Brooms.” We’d assume there was a considerable amount of discussion but they did in fact sail on the Buckinghamshire from the East India docks on the Isle of Dogs on March 4th 1875 arriving in Otago Harbour on 29th of May 1875.
In January 1879 the first train ran between Dunedin and Invercargill. At an exposition day in Gore to celebrate this feat of engineering and pioneering, James unveiled what was purportedly the first localised production of Brushes and Brooms using Manuka and Pig Bristle.
5 generations and 140 years on from that event we are proud to confirm his descendants are still making Brushes and Brooms in New Zealand.