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BROWNE—BROWNRIGG.
1809, of L’Aurore privateer (mentioned below), an exploit which we find attributed to the “great exertions of that indefatigable officer Capt. Browne.”[1] He returned to England in 1814 in the Hermes sloop, and has since been on half-pay. His promotion to Flag-rank took place 9 Nov. 1846. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
BROWNE. (Vice-Admiral of the Blue, 1846. f-p., 28; h-p., 42.)
Thomas Browne entered the Navy, 5 April, 1782, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Alexander 74, Capts. E. Michael and Lord Longford, attached to the force in the Channel; removed, as Midshipman, in Dec. following, to the Carnatic 74, commanded by the latter officer and Capt. Joseph Peyton; joined soon afterwards the Thetis 38, Capt. John Blaukett, on the Mediterranean station, where he remained three years; and, after a further servitude in the Elizabeth 74, Capt. Bourmaster, guard-ship at Portsmouth, Carysfort 28, Capt. Matthew Smith, again in the Mediterranean, and Barfleur and Royal George three-deckers, bearing the flag in the Channel of Hon. Sam. Barrington, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 21 Nov. 1790. From Feb. 1793, to Dec. 1796, he next served in the Intrepid 64, Capt. Hon. Chas. Carpenter, off St. Domingo, where he frequently landed in command of a division of seamen to co-operate with the British troops in their warfare with Toussaint de l’Ouverture and other native chiefs in the French interest. In Feb. 1796, with the Intrepid’s boats under his orders, he cut out from a small cove near Porto Plata, on the north side of the island. La Pergante, of 26 guns and a complement of nearly 200 men, all of whom fled on his approach. The prize was added to the British Navy under the name of Jamaica. Mr. Browne’s succeeding appointments were, as First Lieutenant – 9 Dec. 1796, and 22 May, 1797, to the Greyhound 32, and Nymph 36, Capts. Wm. Young and Percy Eraser, employed in the Channel – 8 April, 1799, to the Astrea 32, Capt. Rich. Dacres, in the North Sea – and, 1 Jan. 1800, to the Elephant 74, Capt. Thos. Foley, one of the fleet in the Channel, where he was advanced to the command of the Chapman armed ship, 11 Aug. 1800. Capt. Browne attained Post-rank 29 April, 1802, but remained on half-pay until appointed, 11 March, 1806, to the Tonnant 80, as Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral Elias Harvey, then off Cape Finisterre; after which we find him serving, in 1808-9, in the Sea Fencibles – from Dec. 1811, to Dec. 1812, successively in the Hannibal, Christian VII., and Aboukir third-rates, flag-ships of Rear-Admirals Philip Chas. Durham and Thos. Byam Martin, the latter of which he commanded at the siege of Riga – and, from May, 1813, to Dec. 1815, in the Ulysses 44. While in that ship he was employed for some time in the Belt in protecting the convoys passing to and from the Baltic; next, in Dec. 1813, in conveying the army under Sir Thos. Graham to the Scheldt; afterwards in escorting a large fleet of merchantmen to the West Indies; and ultimately, as Commodore, on the coast of Africa, where he destroyed the only two remaining British slave-factories, and otherwise effectually contributed to the suppression of the negro traffic. On the escape of Buonaparte from Elba be voluntarily convoyed home from St. Helena, to the great prejudice of his professional interests, a fleet of Indiamen, equal in value to 10,000,000l. sterling, and was in consequence presented by the Hon. E.I.C. with a larger sum for the purchase of plate than had ever before been voted to any Captain. Vice-Admiral Browne, who has been on half-pay since the peace, became a Rear-Admiral 17 Aug. 1840, and acquired his present rank 11 Dec. 1846.
He married the eldest daughter of the late Lieut. Michael Jenkins, R.N., who was lost, on 29 July, 1811, during a violent gale off Antigua, in the Guachapin 14, shortly after his promotion to the command of that vessel.
BROWNE. (Commander, 1832. f-p., 21; h-p., 10.)
William Cheselden Browne,[2] whose ancestors were High Sheriffs of Leicestershire as far back as the reign of Henry VII., is second son of the late Suffield Brown, Esq., of Leesthorpe Hall, in that co.; nephew of the late Rear-Admiral Wm. Brown; and first-cousin of Commander C. F. Brown, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1816, as Midshipman, on board the Minden 74, Capt. Wm. Paterson, and, on 27 Aug. in the same year, was at the battle of Algiers. He next, in 1819, joined the Carron 20, Capt. John Furneaux, under whom he was wrecked in the Bay of Bengal on the night of 5 July, 1820, and, in 1821, the Euryalus 42, Capt. Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford, attached to the force in the Mediterranean. He passed his examination 22 July, 1824; proceeded subsequently to the West Indies in the Pyramus 42, Capt. Robt. Gambler; and, after serving for some time as Flag-Mate to Sir Edw. Codrington in the Asia 84, again on the Mediterranean station, was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant 9 Oct. 1827. His succeeding appointments were, to the Talbot 26, Capt. Hon. Fred. Spencer – Pelican 18, Capt. Wm. Alex. Baillie Hamilton, in which we find him actively engaged at the destruction of several piratical vessels in the harbour of Carabusa – Warspite 76, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Edw. Codrington, with whom he returned home – Undaunted 46, Capt. A. W. J. Clifford, in the Channel – Alfred 50, Capt. Robt. Maunsell, in the Mediterranean – and Melville 74, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir John Gore in the East Indies, where he was promoted, 13 June, 1832, to a death vacancy in the Comet 18, which sloop, however, he never joined. He returned to England in the early part of 1833, and since 15 July, 1842, has been in the Coast Guard.
Commander Browne married, 24 March, 1836, Susannah Inman, second daughter of the late Vice-Admiral Sam. Hood Linzee, and has issue two children. Agent – J. Hinxman.
BROWNRIGG. (Lieut., 1822. f-p., 20; h-p., 14.)
Marcus Freeman Brownrigg is second son of the late General Thos. Brownrigg, who died in 1827, by Anne, daughter of Robt. Shearman, Esq., of Kilcrean, co. Kilkenny; nephew of the late General Sir Robt. Brownrigg, Bart., G.C.B., Colonel of the 9th Foot, and Governor of Landguard Fort; and cousin both of the late Capt. Wm. Crosbie Brownrigg, R.N., who died in 1805, and the present Sir Robt. Jas. Brownrigg, Bart.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College 3 Feb. 1813, and embarked, 4 Feb. 1816, as Midshipman, on board the Alceste 38, Capt. Murray Maxwell, in which ship he accompanied Lord Amherst on his embassy to China, and was wrecked, while returning home with that nobleman, in the Straits of Gaspar, 18 Feb. 1817. He next served for upwards of four years in the Glasgow 50, Capts. Hon. Anthony Maitland and Bentinck Cavendish Doyle, on the Mediterranean and East India stations; passed his examination 12 March, 1821; wag promoted, from the Leander 60, flag-ship of Hon. Sir Hen. Blackwood, to be Acting-Lieutenant of the Topaze 38, Capt. Price Blackwood, 24 May, 1822; and, on his arrival in England, was officially confirmed, 20 Nov. in the same year. He was afterwards appointed – 2 Feb. 1824, to the Samarang 28, Capts. Sir Wm. Saltonstall Wiseman and David Dunn, employed on the Halifax and Cape stations – 30 Sept. 1827, and 23 Dec. 1828, as First-Lieutenant, to the Sparrowhawk 18, Capt. Jas. Polkinghome, and Maidstone 42, Commodores Wm. Skipsey and Chas. Marsh Schomberg, both on the latter station – 13 Dec. 1832, to the Castor 36, Capt. Lord John Hay, in the North Sea – and, 15 May, 1833, to the Donegal 78, as Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Wm. Hall Gage, then engaged on a Particular Service. He was placed on half-pay in the following Aug., and has not since been employed.
