Six north country diaries - The MAN & Other Families

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THE DIARY OF NICHOLAS BROWN.
INTRODUCTION.
Nicholas Brown, attorney in Alnwick and coroner for Northumberland,
was born circa 1722, being the son of John Brown [of Chillingham]
and grandson of William Brown, proprietor of a small property
at Alndyke in the parish of Alnwick a,nd tenant of the farm of
"Hawkhill in the parish of LeslDury. He sensed his articles with
Mr. Robert Claxton, a. leading attorney in Alnwick, was admitted
free of the Skinners and Glovers Company in 1748 and was soon
afterwards elected a member of the Four and Twenty of the
'
Borough of Alnwick,' as the municipal authority was tlien styled.
In l7-i9 he married at St. Nicholas's church, Newcastle, Miss North,
who, in the marriage ainnouncement in the Netvcastle Crnirant of
22 July, 1749, is described as 'an agreeable young lady with a handsome
fortune.' On the death of his grandmother, Mrs. Jane Brown,
on the 16 Februaiy, 1752, at the advanced age of 95, he succeeded
to the property at Alndyke which, hoAvever, was incumbered and
was sold by order of the Court of Chancery in 1762.
As may be inferred from entries in the diaiy, Nicholas Brown
was a lover of cock-fighting, and the name is still rememl^ered of
his game-cock, Bold ' Ratler,' which may have won some of his
victories in a pit which once existed in a. building, still standing in
Pottergate, distinguished by its pyramidal roof covered with l>right
red pantiles. Mr. Brown resided in Narrowgate. Most of his family
were bom there. He died on the 12th August, 1797, aged 75,
apparently at the same address.