Page 32 - Who Was Sapper Brown

It was brucellosis that killed Sapper Brown, and it was brucellosis that was also responsible for the major
part of the epidemic of illness amongst the soldiers and sailors of the Cyprus Expeditionary Force in

1878 – 1879. The epidemic had largely abated by the end of 1879.36

Burial at Mathiatis Cemetery

As Sapper Brown died in the temporary hospital at Mathiatis, he would have been buried at Mathiatis

Cemetery (see relevant chapter). He was the last burial in this small cemetery, and his gravestone or cross

may well have been the only one still decipherable many years later when the decision was taken to re-
inter him.37 This was very likely to have been during the latter part of the EOKA years (1955 – 1959) when

there would have been understandable concern that this isolated cemetery might be vandalized. This
would explain why he is the only soldier of the 19th century to have been re-interred in Wayne’s Keep,

for if this decision had been taken after Cyprus became independent, he would have been re-interred at
the new military cemetery at Dhekelia. There are no re-interments at Dhekelia.

Sapper Brown’s Family Home

February Paylist, 1879. Personal effects and next-of-kin details of Sapper George Wood (buried in Troodos) and Sap-
per James Brown, who is described as a ‘Collar Maker’ (name given in full in the Casualty Returns, Royal Engineers).

Sapper James Brown’s next-of-kin is listed as Miss S Brown, who lived at Marsh Cottage, Penselwood.38

As his headstone indicates he was 29 years old when he died (not necessarily an accurate figure), he
should have been born around 1850 or 1851.

36 In Cyprus during 1879 there were 296 hospital admissions with ague, but only 48 with remittent fever. Army Medical
Department Annual Report (1879)
37 The author has been unable to discover exactly when, or why, Sapper Brown was re-interred at Wayne’s Keep. The cem-
etery closed to new burials on 25 March 1960. It is highly unlikely he would have been re-interred after that date.

38 This ancient settlement, now known as Pen Selwood, is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, off the A303 road
on the border of the counties of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. It derives its name from Pen (a ridge) and Selwood (a wood
of sallies or pussywillows), and was the site where Kenwalh, King of the West Saxons, fought and defeated the Britons in 658

AD. There is a sole remaining Marsh Cottage, where Sapper Brown may well have grown up before enlisting in the Army, still
in existence.

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