The grandson of Wilfred Brown, Brunel University’s first Pro-Chancellor, paid homage to his grandfather on a visit to the university building named after him.
As Brunel continues to mark its 60th anniversary, barrister Cameron Brown KC took time out from supporting a research project at Brunel Law School to visit the Wilfred Brown building on the western edge of the campus.
“Although my grandfather died when I was 12, the stories of what he achieved have been passed on through my father, Richard, who was also a student here,” said Cameron Brown KC, a barrister with award-winning Red Lion Chambers in London.
“Wilfred Brown was passionate about the university he helped create. He was seen as radical in his lifetime for his beliefs about how workers and management should work together to be more productive.
“He was seen as equally radical about guiding a technical college through to university status in the 1960s and widening access to higher education.”
Wilfred Brown was a pioneering and innovative industrialist who became the University’s first Pro-Chancellor from 1965 to 1980. As Chairman of the Acton Technical College governing body in the 1940s, he guided its growth into the Brunel College of Technology and subsequently Brunel University.
He championed technological education through applied knowledge, with students not just studying real problems but solving them.
As a Minister in Harold Wilson’s Labour government, Brown, later Lord Brown of Machrihanish, was at the forefront of delivering Wilson’s plan to create employable graduates who could do the jobs that the future economy needed.
As Chairman of the Glacier Metal Company from 1939 to 1965, he collaborated with the renowned organizational researcher Elliott Jaques to pioneer workplace democracy, compensation structures, and management theory.
Today, Brunel Law School is situated in the Elliott Jaques building where Cameron Brown KC is working with academics on an ongoing research project regarding trial procedures in UK courts.
The Wilfred Brown Building is now the central hub for the College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences.
Cameron Brown KC now hopes to offer support to law students at Brunel. He said: "I am passionate about continuing the legacy of my grandfather Wilfred Brown, who was committed to creating opportunities for others.
“I am at that stage of my career where I would like to work with Brunel and give something back by helping those who want to enter the profession.
“As a country we need more criminal barristers and it is important to support the next generation as they begin their careers."