Sir Anthony Browne, wearing the Great George badge of the Order of the Garter. National Portrait Gallery, London[1]Arms of Sir Anthony Browne, KG
Sir Anthony Browne,
KG (c. 1500[2] – 6 May 1548) of Battle Abbey and Cowdray Park, both in Sussex, England, was a
Member of Parliament and a courtier who served as
Master of the Horse to King Henry VIII.
Anthony Browne's recorded royal services began in 1518, when he was appointed surveyor and master of hunting for the Yorkshire castles and lordships of
Hatfield,
Thorne, and
Conisbrough. He was in an embassy to hand over
Tournai to
King Francis I of France.
Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, knighted him on 1 July 1522. In 1525 he was made lieutenant of the
Isle of Man. He was the English ambassador to France in 1527, reporting home in increasingly anti-French terms.[3]
Browne played a supporting role in the military suppression of the 1536 Roman Catholic uprisings in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, commonly known as the
Pilgrimage of Grace. In particular, he led a force of around 2000 mounted troops to
Lincoln in October 1536 and was placed in charge of a garrison at
Barton-upon-Humber the following month.[4]
In 1539 Browne was elected as a
Member of Parliament for the county seat of
Surrey and was elected again in 1542, 1545, and 1547. In 1539 he was appointed as the king's
Master of the Horse, a position he retained until his death.[3]
In January 1540, when King Henry VIII went to
Rochester in Kent to meet his future fourth wife,
Anne of Cleves, he first sent Browne, as his Master of the Horse, into her chamber. Browne later declared that he was never more dismayed in his life, "lamenting in his heart to see the Lady so far unlike that which was reported". Henry VIII confided his own disappointment the next day to Browne as they returned to
Greenwich Palace on the royal barge.[5]
In 1542, on the death of his elder half-brother the Earl of Southampton, Browne inherited from him the estate of
Cowdray House in Sussex, purchased by him in 1528. Browne completed the building of "that magnificent house" which was destroyed by fire in 1793, but which was rebuilt. It was sold in 1843 to the 6th Earl of Egmont by the nieces of the 8th Viscount Montagu.[7]
Browne had to be careful not to be brought down by factional politics at the court of King Henry VIII. A possible threat to his position was his mother Lucy Neville, an unreconciled
Yorkist who was never trusted by the
Tudors. He became so trusted by the king that in his later years he held a dry stamp of the King's signature, to use for minor letters. By 1547 he was Keeper of
Oatlands Palace.[citation needed]
Marriages and issue
Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, great-grand-daughter of Queen
Elizabeth Woodville and second wife of Sir Anthony Browne
He married twice:
Firstly, before 1528, to Alice Gage (died pre-1540), a daughter of Sir
John Gage by his wife Philippa Guildford, by whom he had seven sons and three daughters including:[2]
William Browne, who married Anne Hastings (1528-1572), the eldest of the two sisters and co-heiresses of
John Hastings, de jure 15th Baron Hastings (d.1542), of Elsing in Norfolk. The eventual heiress of Elsing and Wesenham was Phillipa Browne, who married John Berney (d.1719), and thus Elsing passed to her Berney descendants. The eventual heiress Frances Berney (born 1760) married Rev. Richard Eaton, Rector of Elsing, who assumed by royal licence dated 1786 the surname "Browne", thus Elsing Hall was once again held by the Browne family.[10]
Lucy Browne, who married
Thomas Roper (1533-1598), of Eltham in Kent, MP.[11]
Chest tomb monument with effigies of Sir Anthony Browne and his first wife Alice Gage, in St Mary the Virgin Church, Battle
Anthony Browne died on 6 May 1548 at
Byfleet House in Surrey, which he built,[13] and was buried in St Mary the Virgin Church, Battle, Sussex, in the tomb of his first wife Alice Gage, as requested in his will.[14] His chest tomb with effigies of himself and his first wife Alice Gage survives.[15] He was succeeded in his estates by his eldest son,
Anthony Browne, who subsequently in 1554 was created Viscount Montagu.[16]
King's mistresses
Two members of the Browne family were reported to have been among the mistresses of Henry VIII. One of these, recorded only as a 'Mistress Browne', was allegedly his sister. This lady was stated to have been a prime mover in the downfall of
Anne Boleyn, the king's second wife.
Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester was a
lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne Boleyn and the chief witness against her at her trial for adultery.[clarification needed] Another less closely related member of Browne's family,
Anne Basset, was rumoured to be in the running to become Henry VIII's fifth wife, and there were rumours of an earlier affair, shortly before the king's marriage to
Anne of Cleves in January 1540.[17]
Cowdray engravings
16th-century wall-paintings, originally commissioned by Sir Anthony Browne and were painted onto the walls of Browne's hall in Cowdray House. The original paintings were destroyed by fire in 1793, but their appearances survive in etchings made while they existed.
The encampment of the English forces near Portsmouth, together with a view of the English and French fleets at the commencement of the action between them on the 19th of July 1544
The Departure of King Henry VIII from Calais, on 25th July 1544, Subtitled 'The Meting of the Kinge by S'r Antony Brown Upon the Hill Betweene Callis and Morguison
The Encampment of King Henry VIII at Marquison (Marquise), in July 1544
^Cokayne, G. E.; H. A. Doubleday & Lord Howard de Walden, eds. (1936). The Complete Peerage, or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times (Moels to Nuneham). 9 (2nd ed.). London: The St. Catherine Press, p.97, note (b)
^Both John Grey of
Pirgo and Lady
Elizabeth Fitzgerald were grandchildren of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset
^Pedigree of Hastings in: Cokayne, G. E.; H. A. Doubleday; Duncan Warrand & Lord Howard de Walden, eds. (1926). The Complete Peerage, or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times (Gordon to Hustpierpoint). 6 (2nd ed.). London: The St. Catherine Press, pp.365-7