Private Norman Brown and Private Thomas William Brown

Norman Brown was born in Wearhead, in Durham England. He was 21 years of age and single when he enlisted with the 125^th Battalion in Paris and was working as a baker and he attended St. James Anglican Church. Norman was a member of the 9^th Platoon that embarked aboard the S.S Scandinavia on February 12, 1916. The 9^th and 10^th Platoons were the first contingent of soldiers from Paris, nearly 100 men, to go overseas. He was transferred to the Canadian Mounted Regiment after arriving in England and served with them for four years.

After the war, he married Eleanor Holmes and had three sons and a daughter. One of those sons, Thomas William Brown, served as a Private with the Royal Canadian Regiment for two years during the Second World War and was killed accidentally while in service on November 1, 1943. The family was living at 81 West River Street at that time.

Norman, Thomas’s father, served again during the Second World War. He served with the 48^th Highlanders for four years. He and Eleanor were living at 19 Silver Street when he died in April, 1964 at the Willett Hospital. He is buried in the soldiers’ Plot in the Paris Cemetery.