William Tournay Brown

According to Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett:

Brown, William Tournay, a young Scotsman who had been educated as a lawyer. He joined the TS in London while APS was there and sailed for India in 1883. Apparently he was a man of nervous temperament but of considerable promise. HPB sent him to join HSO and DKM, who were on tour in North India (LBS, p. 62). In Lahore he was visited by KH (LBS, p. 68) During the absence of the Founders from Adyar, India, he served on the Board of Control appointed by HSO and was present at the time of the Hodgson investigation. He left India in 1885 and traveled most of the rest of his life, principally in the US and Europe. ML, p. 421; SH, pp. 184, 185, 192; D, p. 570; HPB VI:31, 32, 429; ODL 3: 23, 42; LMW 1: 28. See Chronology [of RG].

Visit from Master K. H.

Mr. Brown was accompanying Col. Olcott on a lecture tour. He claims that in a couple of lectures he saw the astral form of the Masters, in one occasion recognizing the Mahatma K.H. Later, on November 20, 1883, he had the opportunity to see the Master in his physical body. He wrote:

. . . Lahore has a special interest, because there we saw, in his own physical body, Mahatma Koot Hoomi himself.

On the afternoon of the 19th November, I saw the Master in broad daylight, and recognized him, and on the morning of the 20th he came to my tent, and said, "Now you see me before you in the flesh; look and assure yourself that it is I," and left a letter of instructions and silk handkerchief.

On the evening of the 21st, after the lecture was over, Colonel Olcott, Damodar, and I were sitting outside the shamiana (pavilion or pandal [temporary, open-sided shelter roofed with bamboo matting], when we were visited by Djual Khool, the Master's head Chela, who informed us that the Master was about to come. The Master then came near to us, gave instructions to Damodar, and walked away.

On leaving Lahore the next place visited was Jammu, the winter residence of His Highness the Maharajah of Cashmere.

At Jammu I had another opportunity of seeing Mahatma Koot Hoomi in propria persona. One evening I went to the end of the "compound" (private enclosure), and there I found the Master awaiting my approach. I saluted in European fashion, and came, hat in hand, to within a few yards of the place on which he was standing. After a minute or so he marched away, the noise of his footsteps on the gravel being markedly audible.

Letters from Master K. H.

Brown received two letters from K. H. They were published in as Letter 21 and Letter 22 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, 1881-1888, also known as First Series.

Writings

• Some Experiences in India. London: London Lodge of the Theosophical Society, 1884.
• "The Theosophical Mahatmas" in The Religio-Philosophical Journal (Chicago), October 16, 1886, p. 2.
• My Life. D. Lauber. 64 pages.
• The Theosophical Society: An Explanatory Treatise. Madras: National Press, 1885. 16 pages.

Additional resources

• Beechey, Katherine A. "W. T. Brown and Two Less Known Letters of the Master K. H." The Theosophist 109.3 (December, 1987), 87-90.
• Brown, William T. Some Experiences in India. London: London Lodge of the Theosophical Society, 1884, 5–7, 10–11, 12, 13, 15–17. See A Casebook of Encounters with the Theosophical Mahatmas Case 37, compiled and edited by Daniel H. Caldwell.
• "William Tournay Brown" at University of Glasgow website.
• Gomes, Michael. W.T. Brown’s “Scenes in My Life” in Theosophical History Occasional Papers Volume IV. Fullerton, California: Theosophical History, 1995. Reprinted from the Rochester Post-Express, 1886, with additional material by Michael Gomes. A library catalog description says: "Under the pseudonym "Carwood Gerald Clark," William Tournay Brown recounts his experiences with members of the Theosophical Society and the Master Koot Hoomi, as originally printed in the Rochester Post-Express, August and September 1886. "