My grandfather Claud Leonard Broun maintained that the family were descended from Brouns of Colstoun and Haddington but the connection has not as yet been established. He changed the surname back to Broun based on the information that his great grandfather Robert had changed the name from Broun to Brown for business purposes.
Sofar as I can see, Claud Brown's ancestors came from the Glasgow and Edinburgh / Pentlands area. Some (the Dicks and Mackellars) came from Renfrewshire, and Argyll. There was a migration to Australia in the 19th century, followed by a return to the UK, settling in England for a while before returning to Scotland in the earlier part of the 20th century.
Marion Janet Wyld's ancestors were to a large extent Scottish families who had moved to London where they had (generally) married into other Scottish emigree families. Hence many of their births, marriages and deaths are recorded in the English registers. Broadly speaking many of them were London Scots of Lowland / Borders origin. They mostly came from south east Scotland, especially the Edinburgh and the Pentlands area. The Kennedys were from Ayrshire.
CLB's mother, Marion Janet, died two weeks after he was born, and his father Claud remarried to Georgina Florence Stephens Hyde, 26 Oct 1882, in Salisbury and had three children - Hubert, Audley and Joyce. Only Hubert had descendants, and he also re-adopted the name Broun.
There is an added complexity in the Broun / Brown - Wyld Chart because Claud Brown and Marion Janet Wyld were second cousins, both descended from John Wyld and Mary Aitcheson. This slightly distorts the layout.
The original data was based on writings by my grandfather, which have been verified with various searches - such as IGI / LDS, birth and marriage certificates, other peoples' ancestral researches etc.
Reagrding the names "Broun" and "Brown", my grandfather Claud Leonard Broun wrote the following:
"The name Broun is of course the same as the more familiar Brown, neither of them is a very common name in Scotland for some reason, and of course originally, and where Board School Education has not eradicated our native tongue, they are pronounced alike. A small girl who had just entered St.Matthew's Day School in Edinburgh, where I was Priest-in-Charge, was asked by her mother, "Did you see Mr Broun today ?" She answered with great scorn, "It's Mr Brown Mother, fancy ca'in the Minister Mr Broun " - our old Scottish way of speech [ toun, goun etc.] having no doubt been corrected by the teacher.
"As a matter of fact I was registered at birth under the name of Brown, and continued to spell my name that way till I was about fifteen; but my father, who had very little interest in such questions, one day told me that our name was really Broun, having been changed, I think by his grandfather, for business reasons, but not legally.
"I further discovered that our family crest was that of the family of Broun of Colstoun near Haddington, but as to the exact relation to that family, together with the legend of the Colstoun Pear, may be found in Debrett's Baronetage, I have never had the patience to enquire.
"Our Brouns, so far back as the aforesaid great-grandfather, were honest merchants in Leith, though my father said they came from Haddington."
Infact, contrary to the above, the name "Brown" was quite prevalent in Scotland, and also the north of England. It may have had different origins depending on where it was found. See this interesting page on the Clan MacMillan site about the origin of the name "Brown".
There are some photos I found in an old album belonging to my grandfather Claud Leonard Broun - most are of his father, but I think some may be of other ancestors of his. I cannot identify them. Perhaps you can help? Please see the mystery photos page.
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