Ivor Brown was born into a Methodist mining family at Broseley, Shropshire on 20 April 1937 and until he left in 1961 was a member and (like his father before him) steward of Fletcher Memorial Church, Madeley. Professionally a civil engineer, he obtained his Mining Diploma in 1959 and Ph.D at Leicester University in 1975. He began working for the National Coal Board in 1952, and from 1959 to 1962 was a mine manager and then a lecturer in mining, 1963 to 1971. His next appointment was as a group engineer for land reclamation at Telford.

He was next employed as a mineral and waste disposal officer 1977 to 1993 in succession by the West Yorkshire County Council, Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council, after which he became a reclamation and planning consultant. He was early involved in the planning to convert Caphouse Colliery, West Yorkshire, into the National Mining Museum. Other positions included being the Director of the Peak Mining Museum and a trustee of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. A Churchill Scholarship enabled him to widely to explore the tourist potential from mining heritage. He also helped preserve the Oddball Dragline at St. Aidan's Open Cast Mine, Swillington, West Yorkshire, original built in the USA in 1948. His substantial output of books and articles included a classic work, The Mines of Shropshire (1976) and West Shropshire Mining Fields (2001). He never forgot Fletcher Memorial Church at Madeley. When it was threatened with closure in his old age, he travelled with his wife from Yorkshire as often as he could to support efforts to keep it open. He died at Wakefield on 4 April 2017.

Entry written by: DCD
Category: Person
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