Biography:

Henry Armitt Brown was an orator, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1 December, 1844; died there, 21 August, 1879. He received a careful preliminary training and was graduated at Yale in 1865. From the first he was a leader among his playmates and fellow-students in all that called for brilliant intellectual powers and natural histrionic talents. He studied in Columbia law school, and afterward in Philadelphia, where he was admitted to the bar in 1869. But before beginning to practice he spent several years in travel through Europe and the East. On returning to Philadelphia he was called upon to respond to a toast before a large assembly of the bench and bar of that City, and made such an impression that he was at once recognized as one of the most promising among the younger generation of lawyers. He took an active part in the presidential canvass of 1876, being among the most effective speakers on the republican side. He was a member of the Cobden Club of London, of the Union League in Philadelphia, and of many other prominent social and political associations. His principal orations are historical in character and were delivered on commemorative occasions, such as the one hundredth anniversary of the meeting of congress in Carpenter's hall, Philadelphia (1874); the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Burlington, New Jersey (1877); the Valley Forge centennial (1878); and the centennial of the battle of Monmouth (1878). These addresses were carefully prepared "briefs," and are collected in a handsome memorial volume, prepared by Prof. J. M. Hoppin, of Yale College (Philadelphia, 1880).