BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART. (1784-1864), British merchant and banker, founder of the banking-house of Brown, Shipley & Co., was born at Ballymena, Ireland, on May 30, 1784, the son of an Irish linen-merchant. At the age of sixteen he accom panied his father and brothers to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., but in 18o9 left America for Liverpool. Here he established a branch of the firm, which had now begun to deal largely in raw cotton as well as linen and soon afterwards developed into one of general merchants and finally bankers. The great financial crisis of 1837 seriously threatened the ruin of the firm, but the Bank of England agreed to advance him £2,000,000 to tide matters over. Brown found it necessary to apply for only f I,000,000, which he repaid within the next six months. His business, both mercantile and banking, continued to increase, and in 1844 he was in possession of a sixth of the trade between Great Britain and the United States. In 1856 the friction between the British and American governments due to the enlistment by British con suls of recruits for the Crimean War was largely allayed by the action of Brown, who in an interview with Lord Palmerston, then prime minister, explained the objections taken in America. From 1846 to 1859 he was Liberal M.P. for South Lancashire. In 186o he presented Liverpool with a public library and museum, and in 1863 was made a baronet. He died at Liverpool in 1864.