George Douglas Brown was born 1869 in the small village of Ochiltree, Ayrshire. His father was George Douglas Brown, a farmer, who never acknowledged him. His mother, Sarah Gemmel, was a farm-servant of Irish descent. That he was illegitimate may help to explain why some of Brown’s anger was directed at patriarchal neglect, authoritarianism and petty-mindedness in small communities. He was educated at local schools in Ochiltree and Coylton, and attended Ayr Academy from 1883. The rector of Ayr Academy helped Brown gain a bursary to the University of Glasgow, where he graduated with a First in Classics and he received the Snell Exhibition Scholarship to study at Balliol College, Oxford. He played an active role in student life at Oxford, but was also subject to bouts of depression and ill health. He returned to Ayrshire to nurse his dying mother in 1895 and, in consequence, he graduated later that year with only a third class degree.

Later in life (after his mother’s death) Brown moved to London and began a career in journalism. He contributed short fiction and a variety of critical articles to various journals, including an essay on Burns for Blackwood's Magazine. In addition, he provided the glosses for the Scots words in the reprints of John Galt’s novels. In 1899 he published an adventure novel, Love and a Sword under the name ‘Kennedy King’ (he also used the pen name of George Douglas). In the autumn of 1900, he began writing his most famous book, The House with the Green Shutters, which began as a long story about a Scottish character called Gourlay in the small village of Barbie. This was then developed into a novel and was published in 1901 under the name George Douglas. When the book was published, it was well reviewed and received comparisons to works by R. L. Stevenson and John Galt.

Brown planned another novel to be called The Incompatibles, but pneumonia and his already poor health resulted in his death in 1902 at the age of 33. He was buried in Ayr, beside his mother.