The diary of James Brownlee

Abstract

James Brownlee was born in April 1824. He was the second of three sons (and five daughters) born to the missionary John Brownlee, and his colonial born wife Catharine. The importance of James as an historical character is obscured by that of his father and elder brother Charles. James had a varied career which was cut short by his untimely death in March 1851 at the youthful age of twenty-six years and eleven months. We are fortunate that he has left a vivid account of several aspects of the seventh Frontier War in a diary which he kept from April to September 1846. The diary also points to the significance of his family in the history of the Eastern Cape. Thesis, p. 1.