JAMES HENRY BROWN was appointed to the Camden Fire Department as an extra man with Engine Company 1 on April 5, 1882. He replaced Joseph Cavanaugh. James H. Brown served for two years, when he was replaced in turn by James Roach in 1884. 

James H. Brown was born in Pennsylvania late in 1849 to John W. Brown and his wife, the former Ann E. Atkins. He appears in the 1860 Census with his widowed mother in Camden's South Ward. His mother worked as a washerwoman. He does not appear on Census sheets in 1870, and 1880, but does appear in Camden City Directories through 1895.

James H. Brown appears in Camden City Directories from 1878 through 1895 at 1117 Newton Avenue. He worked as a carpet weaver in 1878, as a rigger from 1882 though 1884, as a waterman in 1885, as a letter carrier from in the 1887-1888 and 1888-1889 directories, as a weaver in 1890, and from 1891 though 1895 as a watchman in Philadelphia.

James Henry Brown passed away in September of 1895 at the age of 45 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, after services at Union Methodist Episcopal Church at South 5th and Mount Vernon Streets.