Editing Ford Madox Brown (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Rossetti-10.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Brown, on the left, with [[William Holman Hunt]]. [[Caricature]] by [[Max Beerbohm]] from ''[[Rossetti and His Circle]]''.]]
Brown was the grandson of the medical theorist [[John Brown (physician, born 1735)|John Brown]], founder of the [[Brunonian system of medicine]]. His great-grandfather was a Scottish labourer. His father Ford Brown served as a purser in the [[Royal Navy]], including a period serving under [[Sir Isaac Coffin, 1st Baronet|Sir Isaac Coffin]] and a period on [[HMS Arethusa (1781)|HMS ''Arethusa'']]. He left the Navy after the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]].

In 1818, Ford Brown married Caroline Madox, of an old Kentish family.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Brown, Ford Madox | volume= 4 |last= Rossetti | first= William Michael |author-link= William Michael Rossetti | pages = 657&ndash;658 |short= 1}}</ref> Brown's parents had limited financial resources, and they moved to [[Calais]] to seek cheaper lodgings, where their daughter Elizabeth Coffin was born in 1819 and their son Ford Madox Brown in 1821.

Brown's education was limited, as the family frequently moved between lodgings in the [[Pas-de-Calais]] and relatives in [[Kent]], but he showed artistic talent in copying of [[Old Master]] prints. His father initially sought a naval career for his son, writing to his former captain Sir Isaac Coffin. The family moved to [[Bruges]] in 1835 so Brown could study at the academy under [[Albert Gregorius]]. Brown moved to [[Ghent]] in 1836 to continue his studies under [[Pieter van Hanselaere]]. He moved to [[Antwerp]] in 1837 to study under [[Gustaf Wappers]]. He continued to study in Antwerp after his mother's death in 1839. His sister died in 1840, and then his father in 1842.