Dr. John Collis Browne MRCS (1819–1884) was a British Army officer, inventor of items for yachts and the originator of the medicine

Chlorodyne Chlorodyne was one of the best known patent medicines sold in the British Isles. It was invented in the 19th century by a Dr. John Collis Browne, a doctor in the British Indian Army; its original purpose was in the treatment of cholera. Brown ...

. Serving as surgeon with the 98th Regiment of Foot in India in 1848, Browne developed Chlorodyne for use during an outbreak of cholera. It was subsequently used as a general cure in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

.Neil Prior
"Coronavirus: Sanitiser maker's links back to Victorian cough cure"
BBC News, 30 May 2020. In 1856 he left the army and went into partnership with John Thistlewood Davenport, a chemist, then at 33

Great Russell Street Great Russell Street is a street in Bloomsbury, London, best known for being the location of the British Museum. It runs between Tottenham Court Road (part of the A400 route) in the west, and Southampton Row (part of the A4200 route) in the e ...

, to whom he assigned the sole right to manufacture and market 'Brown's Cough Bottle'. The formulation was abused and its addictive ingredients were reduced as a result; since the Medicines Act of 1968 it has been known as 'J. Collis Browne's Compound'. It was still marketed by J.T. Davenport & Sons – the same family – up until the 1960s. BCB International, named for the product, now focusses on outdoor equipment, including shark repellent, ballistic underwear, bioethanol fuel packs, and emergency packs for lifeboats. Dr Browne died at Mount Albion House,

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, on 30 August 1884. He is buried in

St Laurence-in-Thanet St Laurence's Church, also known as St Laurence-in-Thanet, is a Church of England parish church in Ramsgate, Thanet, Kent. History The church, founded in 1062, is a grade I listed building, and is the oldest church in Ramsgate. It was an abbey ...

churchyard in Ramsgate. Upon Browne's death plans were made by Messrs Davenport to erect a plaque in his memory on the house where he had lived. The plaque was designed by the lettering craftsman William Sharpington and unveiled by the Mayor of Ramsgate on 8 May 1973. Dr N.M. Goodman recorded the event in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

''.Occasional Ramsgate Writings Donald G Long
– Michael's Bookshop

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, John Collis 1819 births 1884 deaths British Army regimental surgeons 98th Regiment of Foot officers 19th-century British Army personnel 19th-century British inventors