Harris Leon Brown (née Brun) was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1843.  The family was Jewish. His father, Baruch, was a government contractor. Harris was apprenticed with Moses Neufeld, a trader in Sheffield goods. Aged 17, he fled to Sheffield during the insurrection against Russia. After 1861, he traded as a jeweller, watchmaker, and diamond merchant in Gower Street, Burngreave. In 1872, he patented a cigar cutter with Samuel Elman. In 1876, he moved to Angel Street. In 1890, he registered a silver mark from Market Place, where his jewellery shop became a fixture in the city centre (Olive, 1994¹). Branches were opened in Doncaster and Chesterfield. Further silver marks were registered in 1895 and 1904.

Although primarily a jeweller, Brown’s mark was used on fancy silver cutlery, such as cased fish carvers and forks. H.L. Brown became an enthusiastic patriot: he was naturalised in 1900;  joined the Hallamshire Rifles; married a Sheffield woman (who later converted to Judaism); and lived at Kenyon House, Brincliffe Crescent. He was prominent in the local community as chairman of the Sheffield Board of Guardians; past president of Sheffield Hebrew Congregation; and a prime mover in Sheffield Synagogue and Hebrew Burial Ground (Sheffield & District Who’s Who, 1905).

His son, Bernard Brown (1872-1961), joined the business. In 1910, H.L. Brown & Son became ‘Ltd’, when it had a London shop in Regent Street. Harris Leon Brown died at 23 Briardale Gardens, Hampstead, on 10 August 1917, aged 74. He left £29,785. His wife, Hannah, died there on 2 April 1925, leaving £14,385.  Bernard continued trading in Sheffield. Shortly before the Blitz destroyed the premises in Market Place, H.L. Brown’s moved to a shop overlooking Fargate. Bernard died at Bournemouth on 31 May 1961, aged 88, leaving £29,848. H.L. Brown Group, which includes Bright & Sons in Scarborough, remains in family hands.

^1. Olive, Martin, Central Sheffield (Bath, 1994)