John Brown was born in Blackrod in 1874. He married Martha Ainscough (1875), the daughter of William Ainscough (1845), in late 1898. In 1901 he was working in Wigan, probably as a coal miner.

Sources
• 1. Marriage Registers. Ainscough, Martha & Brown, John. Dec. 1898. 8c. 23. Wigan. • 2. 1901 Census. Wigan. John Brown. Age 27. Born Blackrod. Collier Hewer.