David Brown (1803–97), a member of the Free Church of Scotland, Professor of Apologetics, Exegesis of the Gospels and Church History at the Free Church College, Aberdeen, was from 1876 to 1885 Principal of his college. A correspondence with Newman began when Brown sent Newman a copy of his work, Life of the Late John Duncan, LL.D., (Edinburgh, 1872). In a letter of 7 June 1872 to Newman, he remarked that the last chapter of the Grammar of Assent met some of Duncan's difficulties, and added, ‘towards you I feel as if in the light of such teaching I were at home, in the blessed Communion of Saints which transcends every earthly separation.’ This tone was maintained in Brown's subsequent letter, 2 October of the same year, which concluded with the words, ‘With esteem … I remain yours in bonds transcending every earthly separation.’