Thomas Browne (died 1460)

Thomas Browne was the son and heir of Sir Robert Browne of Betchworth and a nephew of Stephen Browne MP. In 1434 he was sworn to the peace in Kent, and made a Justice of Peace there from 1436 to 24 December 1450.[1] He was High Sheriff of Kent in 1439.[2]

He was Member of Parliament for Dover in the 1439-40 Parliament, for Kent in 1445-6, and for Wallingford in 1449-50. He attended the Parliaments of 1447 and February 1449, though this appears to have been as Under-Treasurer rather than as an elected MP.[1]

He served as Treasurer of the Household to Henry VI.[2] He was knighted 1449/1451.[1] During the reign of King Henry VI, his highest post was that of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which he held between 1440 and 1450. He was later Justice of Peace for Surrey from 20 July 1454 till his death.

Browne was convicted of treason on 20 July 1460, and immediately executed. According to some sources he was beheaded, [2] while according to other sources he and six others were executed at Tyburn by hanging.

• Betchworth Castle, which Browne purchased from his father in law, Thomas FitzAlan.
• Tonford Manor, Thanington, Kent, called 'Toniford', 'Tunford' etc., which came to him from Sir Thomas Fogge, (died anno 9 Henry IV) through the Brownes, who in the 27th year of Henry VI obtained a grant of liberty to embattle and impark and to have free warren etc. within this manor.
• Morris-Court, Bapchild, Kent, situated within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Rochester and deanery of Sittingbourne.
• Eythorne Manor, Kent. Browne obtained the grant of a fair at the neighbouring village of Wimlingswold, to be held on the feast of St. Margaret the Virgin (20 July), but which is now held yearly on Old May-day.
• Hoptons Manor in the parish of Alkham, Kent.
• Kingsnorth Manor, Ulcombe, Kent. In the 27th year of the reign of Henry VI, Browne obtained licence for a fair in this parish on the feast of St. Michael, and that same year had licence to embattle his mansion there and to enclose a park, and for freewarren in all his demesne lands within the manor.
• Westbury Manor, Wateringbury, Kent, which Browne purchased from Richard Fishborne in the 33d year of Henry VI's reign. Now called Manor Farm.
• Swanscombe Manor, Greenhithe, Kent.
• Tong Castle and Manor, Tong, Kent, which had been in possession of Richard, Duke of York, but was taken by the crown in anno 38 Henry VI,[3] and granted to Browne prior to his being knighted and appointed comptroller and treasurer of the King's household. Browne soon afterwards obtained a grant of a fair at this manor on St. James's day yearly, and another for liberty to embattle his mansion and to impark his lands here.
• The manor of Barfreston, Kent[4]

In about 1437, Browne married Eleanor FitzAlan, daughter of Sir Thomas FitzAlan, third son of John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel (d. 14 August 1390), and Elizabeth le Despenser (d. 10 or 11 April 1408), by whom he had seven sons and two daughters:[5][6]

• William Browne[2] (of Tavistock, Devon).
• Sir George Browne, beheaded in 1483.[2] His estates were confiscated, but were afterwards restored to his heirs in 1485 by Henry VII.[7]
• Thomas Browne.[2]
• Sir Anthony Browne.[2]
• Robert Browne, esquire,[2] of Luddenham, Kent, Comptroller of the Household to Thomas FitzAlan, 17th Earl of Arundel, who married a wife named Anne, by whom he had a daughter, Eleanor Browne, who married firstly, before 9 December 1509, Thomas Fogge (d. 16 August 1512), esquire, sergeant porter of Calais, younger son of Sir John Fogge, and secondly Sir William Kempe (d. 28 January 1539) of Olantigh, Kent.[8][9][10][11]
• Leonard Browne.[2]
• Edward Browne.[2]
• Catherine Browne, who married Humphrey Sackville, of Buckhurst Park, Sussex (1426 – 24 January 1488),[2] son of Sir Edward Sackville and his wife Margaret Wakehurst.[12]
• Jane Browne.

• Cokayne, George Edward (1910). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs. I. London: St. Catherine Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hitchin-Kemp, Frederick (1902). A General History of the Kemp and Kempe Families. London: The Leadenhall Press. Retrieved 24 September 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Philipott, Thomas (1876). Villare Cantianum (2nd ed.). Lynn: W. Whittingham. Retrieved 23 September 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966379.
• Smith, Herbert L. (1859). "Notes of Brasses, Memorial Windows and Escutcheons Formerly Existing in Ashford and Willesborough Churches". Archaeologia Cantiana. London: Kent Archaeological Society. II: 103–110. Retrieved 24 September 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Colonel the Right Honourable Josiah C. Wedgwood D.S.O M.P. collab Anne D. Hart M.A. Biographies of the Members of the Commons House 1439-1509 London: H.M.S.O, 1936. Vol. 2 pp. 123–4.

• Will of Thomas Fogge, proved 21 October 1512, PROB 11/17/267, National Archives Retrieved 23 September 2013