Charles Brown (Taranaki) - Later Life

Later Life

Later in life, Charles served the community of New Plymouth as a Maori interpreter as he had learned the language and customs of the Maori people over his long life in New Plymouth.

In the 1890s, Brown donated memorabilia of John Keats to the Keats House museum. Some of the items he had inherited from his father Charles Armitage Brown, while others were obtained from Keats' relatives and friends and their descendants with whom the Brown family remained in contact over the years. His descendants continued to donate Keats memorabilia over the years.

He died in 1901 when, aged 81 years, he was hit by a train in New Plymouth in the main street of the town. He had been on his way to catch a bus, when he was distracted and crossed the road to buy some fish, and then stepped back across the road into the path of the train. The death of such a well-known local identity, which was witnessed by many citizens, led to the relocation of the railway line to prevent similar accidents.

Like his father, he was buried on Marsland Hill. His headstone names him as Charles Keats Brown, although there seems to be no prior evidence of Keats as his middle name. However, given his father's close friendship with John Keats at the time of Charles's birth, it does not appear to be completely implausible either.