Career
Brownrigg was commissioned into the 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters in 1905. He became Adjutant of his Regiment in 1910. He served in World War I in the 13th Division and fought at Gallipoli in 1915 and then in Mesopotamia during the remaining years of the War.
After the War he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office and then became a General Staff Officer at the Royal Military College Sandhurst.
He returned to the War Office as a General Service Officer in 1923 and became Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General for the Shanghai Defence Force in China in 1927. He was placed in charge of Administration for the North China Command in 1928.
He was appointed Commander of 159th (Welsh Border) Infantry Brigade in 1933 and General Officer Commanding 51st (Highland) Division in 1935. He became Military Secretary in 1938 and Director General of the Territorial Army in 1939.
He took part in World World War II as Adjutant-General of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939 and retired in 1940.
He was a Sector and Zone Commander for the Home Guard for the rest of the War. Sir Douglas Brownrigg and Lady Brownrigg were keen dog breeders who imported two of the first Shih Tzus into the United Kingdom from China. His memoires; Unexpected (a book of memories), were published in 1942.