John Brown
OHN
B
ROWN
Q
UEEN
V
ICTORIA
’
S
HIGHLAND SERVANT
R
AYMOND
L
AMONT
-B
ROWN
First published in 2000
This edition published in 2010
The History Press
The Mill, Brimscombe Port
Stroud, Gloucestershire,
GL
5 2
QG
This ebook edition first published in 2011
All rights reserved
© Raymond Lamont-Brown, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011
The right of Raymond Lamont-Brown, to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
EPUB ISBN
978 0 7524 6899 0
MOBI ISBN
978 0 7524 6900 3
Original typesetting by The History Press
Prologue: Birth of Royal Rumour
Introduction: Queen Victoria’s Scottish Inheritance
4. All the Secrets of the Universe
Epilogue: Scenes at a Royal Deathbed
Appendix 1: Holograph letter from Queen Victoria
Appendix 2: Queen Victoria’s Children and Their Antipathy to John Brown
THE LIFE AND ROYAL ASSOCIATIONS OF JOHN BROWN
| 1819 | |
| 24 May | Princess Alexandrina Victoria is born at Kensington Palace, only child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820), and Princess Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg (1786–1861), widow of Emich Karl, Prince zu Leiningen. |
| 26 Aug | Prince Francis Albert Charles Augustus Emmanuel of Saxe-Coburg is born at Schloss Rosenau, Coburg, younger son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1784–1844), and his first wife Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1800–1831). |
| 1826 | |
| 8 Dec | John Brown is born at Crathienaird, Crathie parish, Aberdeenshire, second of the eleven children of tenant farmer John Brown (1790–1875) and his wife Margaret Leys (1799–1876). |
| 1830 | |
| | John Brown begins his education at the local Gaelic-speaking school at Crathie and at home. |
| 1831 | |
| | The Brown family move to The Bush, a farm at Crathie. |
| 1838 | |
| 28 Jun | Queen Victoria is crowned at Westminster Abbey. |
| 1839 | |
| | John Brown works as a farm labourer at Crathienaird and helps out at The Bush; he also works as ostler’s assistant at Pannanich Wells. |
| 1840 | |
| 10 Feb | Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert. |
| 1842 | |
| | John Brown becomes a stable boy on Sir Robert Gordon’s estate at Balmoral. |
| | Queen Victoria’s first visit to Scotland (1–15 Sep). |
| 1844 | |
| | Queen Victoria’s second visit to Scotland (11 Sep–2 Oct). |
| 1847 | |
| | The royal family visit Ardverikie and tour the west coast of Scotland (11 Aug–19 Sep). |
| 1848 | |
| | Queen Victoria is advised to visit Deeside for her health by her Physician-in-Ordinary, Sir James Clark. |
| 8 Sep | Queen Victoria visits Balmoral for the first time. |
| 1849 | |
| 11 Sep | First mention of John Brown occurs in Queen Victoria’s Journal . |
| | John Brown is promoted to gillie at Balmoral. |
| | Typhoid sweeps Crathie; two of John Brown’s brothers and one sister die. |
| 1851 | |
| | John Brown takes on the permanent role of leader of Queen Victoria’s pony on Prince Albert’s instigation. |
| 1852 | |
| | Prince Albert buys the 17,400 acre estate at Balmoral for 30,000 guineas. |
| 1853 | |
| 28 Sep | Foundation of a new castle at Balmoral to the designs of Prince Albert. |
| 1855 | |
| 7 Sep | The royal family take possession of the new castle at Balmoral. |
| 1857 | |
| 26 Jun | Prince Albert is created Prince Consort. |
| 1858 | |
| | John Brown takes Archibald Fraser Macdonald’s place as personal gillie to Prince Albert. |
| 1860 | |
| | First ‘Great Expedition’ by the royal family to Glen Fishie and Grantown, with John Brown in attendance (4–5 Sep). |
| 1861 | |
| | Second ‘Great Expedition’ to Invermark and Fettercairn, again with John Brown in attendance (20–21 Sep). |
| | Third ‘Great Expedition’ to Glen Fishie, Dalwhinnie and Blair Atholl (8–9 Oct), again with John Brown in attendance. |
| | Fourth ‘Great Expedition’ to Ca-Ness (16 Oct), with John Brown in attendance. ‘It was our last one,’ Queen Victoria wrote poignantly in her Journal . |
| 14 Dec | Death of Prince Albert at Windsor Castle. |
| 1862 | |
| 1 Jun | John Brown travels south (with other gillies) to the Second International Exhibition. |
| Aug | John Brown goes to Germany in Queen Victoria’s entourage. |
| 1863 | |
| 7 Oct | Carriage accident involving Queen Victoria, Princess Alice and Princess Helena en route from Altnagiuthasach. John Brown ‘indefatigable in his attendance and care’, writes Queen Victoria in her Journal . |
| 1864 | |
| Oct | In conversation with Princess Alice, the Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Charles Phipps and Royal Physician Dr William Jenner discuss Queen Victoria’s sustained depression and reluctance to appear in public since Prince Albert’s death. It is suggested that John Brown be brought from Balmoral to help remind the Queen of ‘happier times’ on vacation in Scotland. |
| Dec | John Brown arrives at Osborne as groom. |
| 1865 | |
| 3 Feb | Queen Victoria decides to keep John Brown ‘permanently’ on her immediate staff. |
| 2 Jun | Dr Robertson prepares a memorandum of John Brown’s ancestry at the Queen’s instruction. |
| Aug | John Brown is in the royal entourage at Darmstadt, Germany. |
| 1866 | |
| 30 Jun | Punch ridicules John Brown. |
| Aug | Ridicule is followed up in John o’Groats Journal . |
| | John Brown’s salary reaches £150 p.a. |
| 1867 | |
| May | Tomahawk lampoons John Brown. |
| | The Royal Academy Spring Exhibition includes a picture of John Brown and Queen Victoria by Sir Edwin Landseer. |
| | Queen Victoria’s ‘Tour of the Borders’ (20–24 Aug), with John Brown in attendance. |
| 1868 | |
| | Stories circulate about John Brown being beaten up at Balmoral. |
| 1872 | |
| 29 Feb | Queen Victoria is attacked by Arthur O’Connor. John Brown assists in restraining assailant and is rewarded with a ‘Faithful Service Medal’ and a ‘Devoted Service Medal’, plus an annuity of £25 p.a. |
| 17 Nov | John Brown is designated ‘Esquire’. |
| | John Brown’s salary reaches £400 p.a. |
| 1875 | |
| | John Brown’s portrait is painted by Heinrich von Angeli for Queen Victoria, from a photograph as Brown refuses to pose. |
| | Queen Victoria’s trip to Inveraray (21–29 Sep), with John Brown in attendance. |
| 18 Oct | Death of John Brown Sr, at Wester Micras, Crathie. |
| 1876 | |
| | Queen Victoria gives John Brown a substantial cottage at Balmoral. |
| | Queen Victoria approves the Bill that will make her Empress of India. |
| 2 Aug | John Brown’s mother dies at Craiglourican Cottage, Balmoral. |
| 1877 | |
| 1 Jan | Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India. |
| 1879 | |
| | Queen Victoria visits France and Italy. Brown is in attendance, but suffering from erysipelas. |
| 1881 | |
| | John Brown is awarded a ten year service ‘bar’ to his ‘Faithful Service Medal’. |
| 1882 | |
| 2 Mar | Queen Victoria is attacked by Roderick Maclean at Windsor. John Brown is upstaged by Eton scholars assailing the culprit. |
| 1883 | |
| 27 Mar | John Brown dies at Windsor Castle. |
| 5 Apl | John Brown is interred at Crathie churchyard. |
| 1884 | |
| Feb | Queen Victoria publishes More Leaves from the Journal of a Life in the Highlands . The Prince of Wales is indignant at references to John Brown. |
| Mar | Queen Victoria abandons her ‘memoir’ of John Brown and publication of extracts of their correspondence and his diary. |
| | Queen Victoria erects a plaque to John Brown at the royal mausoleum at Frogmore. |
| 1887 | |
| 20 Jun | Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Year begins. |
| | The Queen sustains contact with John Brown’s siblings. |
| 1897 | |
| 20 Jun | Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. John Brown’s brothers are still in royal service. |
| 1901 | |
| 22 Jan | Death of Queen Victoria at Osborne. She had reigned for sixty-three years. |
| 4 Feb | Queen Victoria interred in the royal mausoleum at Frogmore; in her coffin are placed mementoes of John Brown. |
BIRTH OF ROYAL RUMOUR
At last King Edward VII could take his revenge. It was petulant, infantile and undignified, but it was immensely satisfying. Not many months after his mother’s death at 6.30pm on 22 January 1901, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, HRH Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII, ordered his obliteration, or forced removal, of all the artefacts, busts and statues of Queen Victoria’s favourite Highland servant John Brown.
1
On the morning of the Queen’s death shepherds on the hills above Balmoral noticed that the cairn of stones the Queen had had raised to the memory of John Brown was flattened and the stones spread around. Such desecration was too much even for the gales on these airy slopes, and all who saw the site believed that new royal orders from Osborne had been carried out.
2
At Windsor, the Keeper of the Royal Pictures received an unequivocal order. Carl Rudolph Sohn’s lifesize portrait of John Brown in black coat, dark brown tweed kilt and brown horsehair sporran, which had been commissioned by Queen Victoria in May 1883 (two months after John Brown’s death), was to be removed from its place of honour, deleted from the inventory at Windsor Castle and sent gratis to John Brown’s brother William at Crathie.
3
Queen Alexandra testified to her husband’s wrathful revenge and expunging of all sentimentality in a letter to her sister-in-law the Empress Frederick of Germany: ‘Alas! during my absence [in Copenhagen] Bertie had had all your beloved Mother’s rooms dismantled and all her precious things removed.’
4
King Edward’s ultimate insult to Brown’s memory was the conversion of his apartment at Windsor Castle into a billiard room.