Dorothy Langford Brown (nee Reed) (fl 1903-1940s), artist, was the daughter of a London lawyer and grew up in Upper Norwood, where she kept a house after her marriage. She trained in art at Crystal Palace Company's School for Art, Music and Literature during the early 1900s: this School was established as the Crystal Palace School of Art, Science and Literature in 1859, and was initially situated in the North Nave before moving to the South Wing in c 1901. It seems to have closed at some point before the First World War: as the archives of the Crystal Palace Company were destroyed in the fire of 1936, it is difficult to establish a fixed date of the closure. The Company also ran a School of Practical Engineering in the South Tower of the Crystal Palace site, as well as a School of Gardening. She also apparently trained at the Slade School of Art (1906-1908), and allegedly exhibited at the Royal Academy. She also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the New Gallery.
istrict councillor, poor law guardian and squire (from 1920). Unable to have children, the Browns adopted the folklorist Theo Brown (1914-1993) at the age of two, and encouraged her in developing interests in botany and art.
From the guide to the Papers of Dorothy Langford Brown, c 1903-c 1938, (University of Exeter)
