Second Lieutenant Adam Thorburn Brown

Second Lieutenant Adam Thorburn Brown, 1st Lothian and Border Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps. He was killed in action in France on 5th June 1940, aged 36 and is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. He was the son of Adam and Agnes Thorburn Brown and the husband of Elizabeth Ann Thorburn Brown of Gullane. He was educated at Cargilfield, Malborough College and Brasenose College, Oxford and  had been employed as a Chartered Accountant and Director of John Jeffrey and Company before being sent to France with his Territorial Unit on 2nd January as part of the B.E.F. As part of the 51st Highland Division they were reinforcing the Maginot Line when the German attack began. The Division moved South in attempting to link up with the rest of the B.E.F but was forced South of the River Somme. The Yeomanry were heavily attacked on 5th June  Second Lieutenat Thorburn Brown’s tank fought a gallant rearguard action to allow the rest of the Squadron to escape. He and his crew were not seen again being killed that day along with Second Lieutenant Hon,R.M. Dundas. Second Lieutenant Viscount Brackley was captured. Eventually the remnants of the Regiment along with the rest of the 51st fought their way to St Valery where out of ammunituion and supplies they were forced to surrender on 12th June. In 1940 the Regiment was equipped with the Universal Carrier ( Bren Gun Carrier ) and the Vickers V1 b Light Tank. His brother Thomas had been killed in the Great War.