Henry W. Brown

Henry W. Brown Martín was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper and defender for Spanish club FC Barcelona at the turn of the century. He was a member of some of the earliest Catalan clubs in existence such as Barcelona Football Club and Sociedad de Foot-Ball de Barcelona. Together with the Parsons brothers, he was one of the few players who was part of both the Barcelona Society of 1894–96 and FC Barcelona.

Playing career Barcelona Football Club Born in England in the early 1870s, Brown moved to Barcelona in the early 1890s for unclear reasons, but like with so many other Britons who moved to the Catalan capital at that time, it was probably due to work reasons. In 1892, he met James Reeves, who was recruiting football enthusiasts to create a well-organized football club, and Brown joined him, after being impressed by his passionate and entrepreneurial spirit.

Brown then played as a defender in two matches against a team from Torelló, which marked the first time that teams from two different cities played against each other in Catalonia. In total, Brown played several training matches (Blues vs Reds) at Can Tunis and a few others at Bonanova between 1892 and 1896, but due to the little statistical rigor that the newspapers had at that time, the exact number of matches and goals (if any) that he made is unknown. On 26 December 1899, Barcelona and Català agreed to join the best players of each team to face Team Anglès, and with the return of Urruela and the inclusion of Català's Fermín Lomba in the defensive line, Brown was left out and instead he played for the English in a 1–2 loss. Together they formed a strong defensive partnership, keeping a clean-sheet in a 3–0 win.

The date of his death is unknown.