Email Museum

White Deer Land Museum

116 S. Cuyler

Pampa, TX 79065

M.K. Brown came to Pampa in 1903

Montagu (Mon-ta-gew) Kingsmill Brown was born on May 22, 1878, in the little village of Eastcote, Middlesex County, England. His British father, Thomas Davy Brown, was a broker with the London Stock Exchange. His Irish mother, Margaret Kingsmill Brown, was a sister of Andrew Kingsmill. Each of Margaret's twelve children had "Kingsmill" as a middle name.

When "Montie" was seven years old, he was sent to a boarding school at a place called Brackley, sixty miles east of London. The school, known as Magdalen College School, was twenty miles from Oxford.

When Montie was fifteen, his father "went brokers, by jove," and it was necessary for the boy to leave school and seek employment. The remainder of his education was acquired in the "school of hard knocks," which he did not recommend over formalized education. For this reason, in later years, he provided the means for many students to have a college education.

Montie first worked as office boy for a timber merchant in the heart of London. For two and one-half years he drew the "huge salary" of two dollars a week.

Then he worked in a bank at a salary of $250 a year, later raised to an additional $50 a year. At the time there were no adding machines or computers, and all checks had to be listed and added by "main strength and awkwardness."  This experience was invaluable to him in later years when he worked at the "stand-up" desk which is still in the White Deer Land Museum in Pampa.

Montie became bored with his job at the bank and told his father that he would like to go to Australia or Canada to begin farming or stock raising. He had an inquisitive nature and an eagerness to learn about everything he could.  He had become interested in farming from visiting some of his relatives, and throughout his lifetime he had a great interest in land and its productivity.

About this time (October 11, 1899), the Boers in South Africa declared war on England, and the various yeomanry units were called upon to furnish manpower. This seemed a golden opportunity to Montie who decided to "join up and see the world" at no expense to himself.

In later years, people often commented that M.K. Brown was always as straight as a ramrod. When asked about this, he replied: "Queen Victoria taught me. When I sat my horse, the equerry gave me a good whack when I was not erect. A good whack will make you remember."

Young Brown joined Queen Victoria's army at the grand salary of four dollars a day and worked up from trooper to regimental sergeant-major. He had many interesting and colorful experiences in what he called "the only decent gentlemen's war that ever had been fought." When the war was over (May 31, 1902), Brown returned to England with the feeling that he would return to Africa some day.

While he was trying to decide whether to return to Africa or to go to Australia, his uncle Andrew Kingsmill suggested that he should go to the Texas Panhandle to work for the White Deer Land Company. Kingsmill told his nephew that the land company needed him and that he would be a good cowboy in Texas.

Kingsmill wrote to rancher Jesse Wynne in Carson County that Brown "had time on his hands" and "was a steady, hardworking person" who would add much to the "scant population of the area."

Brown decided to follow his uncle's suggestion and began the journey to Texas with one hundred dollars in his pocket --- the amount required for entry into the United States. Arriving at New Orleans, he threw his hat and cane into the water and declared that he was going to be a good Texan. He came directly to Pampa, arriving on April 27, 1903.

He began work with T.D. Hobart, the new manager of the company, for $25.00 a month plus room and board --- "and the board was what I slept on!" he joked.