John Brown (1715–1766), British essayist
John Brown (1722–1787), Scottish theologian
John Brown (1735–1788), Scottish physician
John Brown (1780–1859), geologist
John Brown (1784–1858), Scottish minister and theologian
John Brown (1797–1861), British geographer and writer
John Brown (1800–1859), American militant abolitionist
John Newton Brown (1803–1868), American teacher and clergyman
John Brown (1810–1882), Scottish physician and essayist
John Taylor Brown (1811–1901), Scottish newspaper editor
John William Brown (fl. 1828), Leonardo da Vinci biographer
John Brown (1830–1922), British theologian, historian, and pastor
John Henry Brown (1836–1903), English dentist, inventor, and author
John Howard Brown (1840–1917), editor
John Ednie Brown (1848–1899), Anglo-Australian botanist and silviticulturist
John Thomas Toshach Brown (1869–1926), British writer
John Seely Brown (1940–), American engineer