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Former Pupil Biographies
Professor Sir John Rankine Brown (1861 - 1946)
John Rankine Brown was the foundation professor of
classics at Victoria University of Wellington. A Scotsman, Brown took
up his position at Victoria in 1899 and held the classics chair until
his retirement in 1945. He was knighted in June 1946 for services to
education.
When this portrait by Archibald Nicoll was presented in 1934, Brown's
ex-student Diamond Jenness of the Victoria Museum in Ottawa, Canada,
wrote: 'Thirty years have gone by since then, and I can still see him
in his class-room, lifting us over some grammatical stumbling block or
illustrating Greek and Roman history by parallels from modern times.
His scholarship was as deep as his manner was unassuming, and his
kindness and patience were inexhaustible.' |
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The 'Old Boys Chronicle' in the
Madras College Magazine
for December 1904
reports:
"In other spheres of life we have Mr John Brown, Professor of Classics,
University of Wellington, N.Z.; ..."
The
Madras College Magazine
for June 1935
reports:
An academic function of special interest to St. Andrews and to the Madras
took place at Victoria University College, Wellington, New Zealand, on
Saturday,
5th May 1934, when past and present students of the college assembled in
the College Library to do honour to the four foundation professors of the
institution— Professors J. Rankine Brown, Hugh Mackenzie, T. H. Easterfield. and
R.C. Maclaurin—who, 35 years ago, so well laid
the foundations of higher education in Wellington.
Professor Rankine Brown is a son of the late Mr. Thomas Brown, St.
Andrews, who was one of the first pupils of the Madras. Professor Rankine
Brown was educated at the Madras College and St. Andrews University.
After graduating M.A. he proceeded, in 1882 to Worcester College. Oxford.
Then, after a year at St. Andrews an assistant to the Professor of Greek.
in 1887 he began lecturing at the University of Glasgow. In 1899 he
took up his duties at Victoria College. Wellington.
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