John Thomas Brown (20 August 1869 – 4 November 1904) was an English professional cricketer, who played primarily as a batsman. He was Yorkshire's first great opening batsman, a lineage continued by Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton and Geoffrey Boycott. He took five wickets in an innings on three occasions with his leg breaks, but except in 1901 (when he claimed 57 wickets) he generally bowled little.
Another John Thomas Brown was a cricketer who played, less frequently, for Yorkshire over a similar time span. The subject of this article is often described as Brown, J. T. (Driffield), the other as Brown, J. T. (Darfield). Brown made his first-class debut for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1889. He was the first batsman in test history to score a test century in the 4th innings of a test match
Brown played only three more Tests, all against the Australians – two in 1896 and one in 1899 – although many judges (not least Wisden) felt that he was unlucky not to be selected for the 1897/98 Ashes tour. He continued to bat productively for Yorkshire for several more seasons, but in 1904 he played just two matches, both in May, against Cambridge University and Leicestershire before a heart condition forced his retirement.
Death
Brown's health continued to worsen, and later that year he died in a medical home in Pimlico, London at the age of 35. Heavy smoking had contributed to asthma and heart problems. The cause of death was given as heart failure and "congestion of the brain".