About Francis Carnac Brown

F C Brown’s father was Murdoch Brown (1750-1828), a Scotsman and first British landlord in Malabar, known as the Valia Saheb (big lord) of Anjarakandy. Trader in many commodities including armaments and slaves, he was an opportunistic adventurer with a keen insight into local custom, laws, and culture. His advice on Malabar matters was always welcomed by the East India Company.

Murdoch Brown’s Malabar was in ferment in the years leading to its take-over by the EIC. One of his associates, William Bolts, a British merchant, received a grant from Haidar Ali to set up a factory at Mangalore on behalf of the Austrian Trieste Company. It dealt in arms, muskets, other commodities, and liquor. In 1778, Murdoch became its resident manager, and Lakshmikant Shenoy,  its vakeel. Brown circulated between Mangalore, Tellicherry, and the French port of Mahe, trading in rice, pepper, and French armaments for Tipu’s forces. The Trieste Co collapsed in 1785, and the Mangalore factory was abandoned in 1789. Brown moved to Mahe where his business grew exponentially. From Mangalore, he exported rice to Goa.    

Mahe had been captured by the British in 1779. Initially, he secured senior positions in the EIC. When it faced continual problems from locals attacking its plantations, Brown offered to take them over. He employed over 400 labourers, many of them slaves.

Francis Carnac Brown, his legitimate son, inherited Murdoch’s landed properties, among them the large estate at Anjarukundy, about 20 kms from Tellicherry. Pepper and cinnamon grown here was exported to England. About his status as a landowner possessing considerable landed and immoveable property in Malabar, he writes “I am the only European British subject of that class residing in Malabar and Canara, containing a population of more than two and a half millions of Natives…it is the solitary dwelling of an Englishman in the middle of the Jungles of India, without even a hamlet near, save that of my own labourers.” He also had property in Mangalore. He writes that the abandonment of Mangalore would have seriously affected the value of these properties.

Brown showed remarkable courage and articulation in standing for his convictions and bringing them to the notice of the Court of Directors. He wrote to them that despite the Governor of Madras Munro’s visit to Malabar in 1817 for the purpose “of developing its resources”, these resources were being developed not by the skill, the labour, and the capital of the people, but by the periodical visits of the tax-collector. His report elicited just a shrug from the shoulders of one of the most influential Directors. No further notice was taken of it.

Brown concluded his letter to the Court of Directors by stating that he could no longer live in India in honour and security, and was forced to sever a family connection of nearly 70 years with the country. He offered all his properties for sale, including his estate on which he had toiled for 40 years, and invested a great amount of capital. No purchaser came forward. With no other option available to him, Brown quit India and returned to England.

[1] Maddy’s Ramblings. November 2023. Brown of Mahe – The Rascally Adventurer.

https://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2023/11/brown-of-mahe-rascally-adventurer.html; Brown, Francis Carnac. 1838. Letters to and from the Government of Madras relative to the disturbances in Canara in April 1837. London