David Murray Brown was born in Edgbaston on 21st October 1932 – Trafalgar Day, as it happens, but a childhood spent in India and Ceylon as an Army officer’s son, coupled with his enduring passion and talent for riding, steered his destiny firmly towards the cavalry.
He was educated at Stowe before Catterick (as a National Service Trooper) and then RMA Sandhurst, joining the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars in 1953.
He was posted to ‘B’ Squadron, then the Demonstration Squadron at Warminster nicknamed the 5th Hussars for their lack of oversight from RHQ. The Regiment’s move to Hohne saw him progress from tanks to Recce Troop Leader and then to RHQ as Assistant Adjutant.
Military duties and the social splendour of Schloss Bredebeck aside, David’s equestrian enthusiasms filled much of his time. It was little hardship to him that young officers were required to attend early morning riding school nor were they expected to buy a horse (in his case, the one-eyed Blaze) before they bought a car. There was drag hunting with the Wessex Hunt in the Weser Valley, some point-to-pointing and – his forte – showjumping. His Commanding Officer, Lt Col George “Loopy” Kennard, who had broken his leg skiing, generously lent his international-class horse Karl Luppy to David to compete, including at the Royal Tournament in 1957 where they came 2nd In the King’s Cup and 3rd in the Prince of Wales’s Cup.
Much of David’s career was closely associated with developing and testing Armoured Fighting Vehicles. Postings to the School of Tank Technology, Bovington, the Fighting Vehicles Research & Development Establishment, Chobham, and the Technical Staff Officers’ Course, RMCS Shrivenham, all cemented his technical credentials for the future.
He returned to the Regiment, by now The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, in 1962 as 2IC C Squadron, on counter-insurgency operations firstly in Kuching and then Ipoh. Financial responsibilities are often a squadron 2IC’s lot and David recalled temporarily becoming paymaster of 3 Commando Brigade HQ and 42 Commando when they landed as reinforcements; and the subsequent shortfall he had to account for when the SAS officers stayed briefly in the Mess (he was Mess Secretary at the time) drank the place dry and then returned to the jungle without settling their bills.
David’s time in the RAC Directorate in London was briefly interrupted when Winston Churchill, that most famous and distinguished 4th Hussar, died in 1965, and he carried the Cinque Ports Banner in the State Funeral Procession. He then took command of B Squadron in Wolfenbüttel, returning with the Regiment to Perham Down and then Bovington two years later.
Later postings saw him return to Chobham, as well as to the Royal Armament Research & Development Establishment, Fort Halstead, in more senior roles, and he commanded the Armoured Trials and Development Unit in Bovington between 1977-79. His final posting was as Project Manager Challenger, successfully and against considerable financial headwinds delivering to the Army the tank which, a few years later, would carry QRIH into action in Iraq and Kuwait. He retired in the rank of Colonel in 1983 when, thanks to his familiarity with the MoD Procurement Executive, he proved strongly qualified to advise on defence contractor security, which he did until his eventual retirement in 1996.
David is warmly remembered as a generous and wise friend as well as a knowledgeable soldier and man of many parts. He will be particularly missed for his kindness to all and his ever-present sense of humour. He was a lifelong (and published) philatelist, an enthusiastic and successful beekeeper and a thoroughly social golfer. Together with Jane, whom he married in 1964, he was a keen and supportive member of the Regimental family, not least keeping in touch with the younger generation when his son Robin followed him into the Irish Hussars in 1987. He further maintained his Regimental links as Managing Trustee for seven years of the QRIH Museum in the Redoubt, Eastbourne and as Chairman of the 4th Hussars Officers Dining Club.
Colonel David Murray Brown died in Sussex, aged 90, on 8th February 2023.
