| Timothy Brown | |
| Birth Date: | 1743 or 1744 |
| Birth Place: | Kirkoswald, Cumbria |
| Death Date: | (aged 76) |
| Death Place: | Peckham Lodge |
| Nationality: | British |
| Other Names: | "Equality Brown" |
| Occupation: | Banker |
| Movement: | Radicalism |
Timothy Brown (1743/1744 – 4 September 1820) was an English banker, merchant and radical, known for his association with other radicals of the time, such as John Horne Tooke, Robert Waithman, William Frend, William Cobbett, John Cartwright and George Cannon; his political views gave him the nickname "Equality Brown". He was also one of the early partners of Whitbread, and became the master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers.
Born in 1743 or 1744 in Kirkoswald, Cumbria, the son of Ann Yates and Isaac Brown (1704–1780).[1] Brown's family were said to have been "good Cumberland yeoman stock", and had lived around Kirkoswald for many generations.[2] The first recorded were cavalry guards hired by Lord Dacre to protect the border from the Scots; another, William Brown of Scales, fought as a soldier for Oliver Cromwell in the Civil War (1642–1651).[3]
Brown grew up with at least two brothers (Samuel, 1749–1823, and Joseph, 1751–1824) in his family's modest farmstead Scales Rigg, above Kirkoswald, which had been built in 1734. Aged 16, he left Cumbria for London, either with or soon after his cousin Joseph Brown.[4]
Brown retired in affluence to Peckham Lodge, where it was said that his "neighbours reported with awe that he could cut 400 pineapples from his own glasshouses".[5] He died on 4 September 1820, and was buried in the graveyard of St Giles' Church, Camberwell.[6]