Tom Brown (British Army soldier)

Sir Thomas Brown (1705–1746) was born in Kirkleatham, in present day Redcar and Cleveland, England. He was a hero of the Battle of Dettingen (1743), in Bavaria during the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the last time that a British monarch (in this case George II) personally led his troops into battle.

Biography

Brown fought as a private soldier in Bland's Dragoons. 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.

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, presented by the Queen's Own Hussars in 1968.