Born at Gulgong, New South Wales, Ulric Lyle Brown graduated in medicine from Sydney University in 1923, and was appointed Resident Medical Officer at Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Crows Nest. The following year (1924), he spent as a locum tenens in country towns and as a ship's surgeon. He then took on general practice at Meadowbank for a short period, followed by thirteen years at Gresford in the Hunter district. In 1938, he undertook full-time postgraduate training at the Prince Henry Hospital, and the following year gained the Membership.
During the Second World War, he served in the Australian Army Medical Corps from January 1941 to November 1945, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel as Officer Commanding Medical Division 116 Australian General Hospital. He also spent some time on the hospital ship 'Wanganella'.
He joined the NSW Department of Railways in December 1945 as an acting assistant medical officer, and by the time of his retirement in December 1964, was acting chief medical officer. He died four months later leaving a widow, but no children.