Hugh Brown

Hugh Brown won two ABA titles, one on each side of World War I. He captured the middleweight title in 1914 by beating Horace Mansergh on points. Brown’s second title was in the heavyweight division in 1919 when, after beating Mansergh in the semi-final, he beat Charles Copp of the Royal Marine Artillery in the final. Brown went to the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics and reached the last four in the light-heavyweight division, but withdrew from his bronze-medal contest against fellow Briton Harry Franks.

Brown served with the Guards Machine Gun Regiment during the World War I. He was raised in Hertfordshire, after his Scottish-born parents moved from their native Scotland in the early 1890s. Brown’s father died when Hugh was very young, and his teenage years were spent working on the farm with his mother and three siblings.