Listed in Ent.Ann., 1860, at Holmesdale House, Reigate, and as being interested in British Coleoptera. He published 'Corticaria truncatella and Ceuthorhynchus biguttatus taken at Worthing' in Trans.Ent.Soc.Lond., (3)2, Proc. 81, 1865; 'Coleoptera new for the Reigate district' in Proceedings Holmesdale Natural History Club, 1865-66, 8, and 1866-67, 33-34, 41; and 'Homalota saundersi Rye captured on Reigate Heath', ibid., 1866-67, 35. He appears to have been quite a well known collector in his day and there are various references to him in contemporary literature and diaries eg. MS Diary of Janson in the Department of Zoology's entomological collections at Cambridge.
Tim Winter has suggested to me that he may have been a dealer, but I know of only one recorded sale of beetles by Brewer at Stevens's auction rooms on 10 December 1869. Ashley Kirk-Spriggs tells me there are beetles collected by Brewer in the Rippon collection, NMW, and Smith (1986), 105, mentions 52 Carabidae from Cartagena, Spain in the HDO purchased at the sale of the E. Brown collection, included in lot 345, March 1877. (MD 12/01)