THE DEMISE OF MR. STEPHEN J. BROWN, M.A.

Irish Independent 25 February 1931

DEATH OF MR. S. J. BROWN 

POPULAR KILDARE LAWYER

Mr. Stephen J. Brown, M.A., solicitor, died at his residence, Ard Caein, Naas, aged 78. The late Mr. Brown was a son of Stephen Brown, J.P., Dundalk.  He served his apprenticeship to Mr. J. Meredith, solr., Naas, and was admitted a solicitor in 1875.  In due course he built up an extensive practice in Kildare and the adjoining counties, and became one of the leaders of the profession in Ireland.

He did not, however, confine himself to law.  He took an earnest interest in the local administration of the county and of the town of Naas, and was Chairman of the first Kildare County Council and held the office from 1899 to 1911.  He was a member of the Commission of Inquiry into the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, 1906, and of the Commission of Inquiry into Arterial Drainage in Ireland, 1905.  From 1915 to 1921 he was Crown Solicitor for Kildare.

Mr. Brown, in more recent years, devoted considerable attention to agriculture, and was one of the best known breeders of Kerry cattle in Ireland.  He was a regular premier prize-winner at the principal Irish Shows for Kerry cattle and Irish large white pigs. He married first, in 1880, Catherine, daughter of John Ross, Belfast, and secondly, in 1897, Mary, daughter of Richard Ball, Moorside, Co. Meath.  He was father of Mr. R. H. Brown, solr., Naas.

Kildare Observer 7 March 1931

THE DEMISE OF MR. STEPHEN J. BROWN, M.A.

The death of Mr. Stephen J. Brown, M.A., removes one of the outstanding figures in Kildare Irish life. Springing from an ancient and honourable race which through the centuries had given of its best to the welfare of the people, he fulfilled his heritage and from his vantage point of place and family reached new heights of utility and beneficence.  Scholarly and enthusiastic, his activities – and they were manifold, were guided by prudence led by vision, and the solid structure of social service that he built will be his most enduring monument.  His race had given great men in many and diverse positions, and he himself was an outstanding figure in many things that call for deep learning, wide knowledge, and the specialised application of talent, amounting almost to genius.  As was said of another great Irishman, everything he touched he ornamented, and his death leaves his fellow man the poorer in knowledge and inspiration to deserve material prosperity and the consciousness of work well done.

His loss is irreparable, but his memory will ever remain a thing of worth to his family, his friends and his country, and, indeed, the greatness of the chasm created by his demise was evident in the demeanour of the thousands who associated themselves with his obsequies, and his final embarkation on the illimitable sea of Death the has “never known the shadow of a homeward sail.”