Page 33 - Who Was Sapper Brown

The following information was very kindly provided by Andrew Jenkins, Vice-Chairman of Penselwood
Parish Council, following a Google search on ‘Penselwood’. The Marriage Register for St Michael’s

Church, Penselwood records the marriage on 19 September 1850 between a James Brown (son of Samuel
Brown, servant) and Elizabeth Way. The Baptismal Register then records that James and Elizabeth Brown

had a firstborn baby boy who was also baptized James on 2 June 1851 (consistent with the expected
birthdate of Sapper James Brown). The young family was now living at Lye Common Penselwood, near

an area of the parish called Marsh. The 1871 census for Marsh, Penselwood (taken when James would
have been 20 years old) shows that he now has five younger brothers and one sister, Susan, then aged

11.39 James was not at home when the census was taken, probably because he had already enlisted in the
Royal Engineers. As the eldest brother, he probably had a close bond with his only sister, and a sense of

duty towards her, to register her rather than his father as his next of kin. Susan continued living at home

with her father until her marriage in 1891.

Postscript

A poignant juxtaposition Sapper Brown is buried in Plot 27 at Wayne’s Keep, beyond the end of Row

A, out of line with the symmetrical 12-long rows of graves of those who died in the traumatic EOKA
years, so his grave is registered as 1A. His grave is pictured to the right of the Wayne’s Keep custodian,

Lieutenant James Pearson, in the photo below.

Next to him, in grave 1 (in front of Lieutenant

James Pearson, in the photo), is the grave of
Mrs Catherine Cutliffe, married to a sergeant

in the Royal Artillery, who was gunned down
by an EOKA gunman while buying a wedding

dress for her daughter on 3 October 1958. Her
death catalysed efforts to bring the conflict to

an end.

The span of time Coincidentally, another Royal
Sergeant John Duffy
Engineer, 26 year-old ,
who died towards the end of the EOKA years

on 16 January 1959, is buried in front of Sapper
Brown and Mrs Cutliffe. That gap in between

Sapper Brown (who arrived on island with the
first British troops in 1878) and Sergeant Duffy

spans practically the whole time that the British
occupied Cyprus (82 years, 1878–1960) and

reminds one of the Engineer motto ‘First in,
last out’.

39 According to the 1871 census, Sapper Brown’s younger siblings were George (18), Frederick (16), Susan (11), William (7),

Thomas (5) and Charles (1). The 1891 census shows that Susan was still living at home with her father on that day, though the
Marriage Register then shows she married Mr Sidney Guard on 3 June 1891.

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