Brown

Sir Thomas Browne (19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His father was a silk mercer from Upton. Sir Thomas is largely forgotten in Chester, where a family with a similar name are much better known for their department store "Browns of Chester" (often once called "The Harrods of the North"). However, a large bronze of him (by Henry Alfred Pegram) is to be found in Norwich city center and his writings have been the subject of vast scholarship.

Sir Thomas' writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffused with melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence. Sir Thomas is cited as the first to use many words in common usage today, and it is generally believed that these words were ones that he himself coined from his vast classical knowledge. Somewhat surprisingly, these words include: "computer" and "electricity". In the 18th century, Samuel Johnson, who shared Browne's love of the Latinate, wrote a brief Life in which he praised Browne as a faithful Christian and assessed his prose thus:


 * "His style is, indeed, a tissue of many languages; a mixture of heterogeneous words, brought together from distant regions, with terms originally appropriated to one art, and drawn by violence into the service of another. He must, however, be confessed to have augmented our philosophical diction; and, in defence of his uncommon words and expressions, we must consider, that he had uncommon sentiments, and was not content to express, in many words, that idea for which any language could supply a single term"

Sir Thomas Browne is not a direct ancestor of the Browns who opened their noted store in Chester - the last common ancestors with the Brownes of Upton (and later Hoole) are his grandparents. While a look at his ancestry reveals that there were significant connections between the Brownes of Upton and the London fashion trade long before the store opened its doors. It also shows how the male line of the Brownes from the Upton gentry almost died-out on the Chester side, and failed completely for the descendants of Sir Thomas. A little further investigation revealss that the Browns of "Brown's of Chester" are unrelated to the two branches of the Brownes in Chester (Netherlegh and Upton) and therefore unrelated to Sir Thomas Browne, despite what some "city guides" may be heard saying to tourists.

In summary there are three distinct sets of Browns:
 * The "Browna of Chester" Browns, who came from Lancashire;
 * The Brownes of Netherlegh;
 * The Brownes of Upton (of whom a branch gave rise to the noted polymath Sir Thomas Browne);

"Brown's of Chester"


Number #32-34 is a Greek Revival building from 1828 which was the first element of what was to become Browns Department Store (N.B. Wikipedia states the oldest part of the store dates from 1858). Following the Commercial News Rooms (1807-8, which also involved a Brown), this second neo-classical building was the first purpose built store in the City. William Brown was a successful druggist and was married to Susannah Towsey, an ambitious milliner, and they began to import the latest fashions from London. Susannah (who was christened at St Peters in 1758) ran a little drapery and haberdashery shop (in existence by 1781) with her sister, Elizabeth, at the corner by the Cross. The sisters were the daughters of Thomas Towsey, a feltmaker (made Freeman 1745, and himself the son of another feltmaker: John Towsey), and sisters to John a hatter and hosier who kept a shop in Northgate Street (he was declared bankrupt in 1790 and died soon afterwards, with his widow carrying on the business). Her family had been connected with the hattery and hosiery business in Chester from the early 1700's. In the 1780's Susannah and Elizabeth would take the stage coach down to London twice a year to select the new season's fashions from the City wholesalers. On returning to Chester they would place an advert in the local mewspaper inviting the public to come and view their collection.





Susannah married John Brown, who had his druggist's shop a few yards down the street, in 1788. His family had a background in shoe-making. Children of John & Susannah included William Brown b. 10th Apr 1789 and Henry Brown b. 25th Jul 1795. Pigot's Directory of Cheshire 1828-29 lists 'Brown Wm & Hy Milliners Eastgate Street Row Chester'. The plans for the new shop were laid before the Assembly in 1828 and it was built by 1831. Browns directly employed 150 women in their own dressmaking workroom in the 1870s.

Browns of Chester (Hoole)
The Chester Courant and Advertiser (14th March 1900) gives the following information as to the ancestry of the "department store" Browns, triggered by the death of William Brown (links added for background):




 * '''The Browns who became "Browns of Chester" were in the seventeenth century a yeoman family hailing from Ribbleton, in Lancashire. In 1676 William Brown, an ancestor of deceased, resided at Cattford, near Woodplumpton. To him was born in Feb. of that year his eldest son, William, who was baptised at Catford, and was thrice married, but had no issue by either his first or second wife. He married for his first wife Catherine Latham, daughter and eventually sole heiress of Capt. Richard Latham, of Parbald Hall and Allerton, co. Lancaster, by Catherine Massey, his wife, one of the eleven children of Sir Wm. Massey, of Puddington, co. Chester, who was knighted at Chester by King James the First on Aug. 23rd, 1617. William Brown (or Browne, for prior to the Civil War the name was spelt with a final "e" settled with his young Lancashire wife in Chester, where in Barn-lane (now King Street) several children were born to him prior to the accession of George I. (1714), and where he died in 1720, being buried at St. Oswald's, Chester, on June 13th of that year. His eldest son, William Brown became an Alderman of the Cordwainers' Company at Chester, having been sworn a freeman of the city and of that guild in 1733. He served the office of churchwarden of St. Oswald's in 1753, having married at that church on January 20th, 1730, Ann, daughter of Mr. John Golborne, second master or usher of the King's School, Chester. There were six children of this marriage, Christopher and Henry Brown being two of them. The eldest son, William Brown, born in 1733, married at St. Peter's Miss Katherine Meredith, and had issue—four sons and two daughters, of whom John Brown, the eldest son, was a druggist, born in Pepper-street in 1756. He married Susannah, daughter of Thomas Towsey, of St. Peter's, and, dying in 1810, was succeeded (with other issue), by his eldest son, William Brown, Mayor of Chester in 1841 and J.P., who died unmarried on June 13th, 1852. It was he, by the way, who founded the old Mechanics' Institution of this city. His third brother, Henry Brown, also died unmarried at Chester in the year of his mayoralty on August 6th, 1853, and was buried in the new cemetery. Their second brother, John Brown, born in 1792, continued the line, having married Ann, daughter of William Monk, collector of H.M. custom at Parkgate, and, dying in 1846, was buried at St. John's, having had issue four sons and four daughters. Of these latter the eldest is Miss Nessie Brown, of Richmond Bank, Boughton, while of the former Mr. William Brown, who has just died, born at Flookersbrook on May 31st, 1816, was the eldest son, and Mr. Charles Brown, Folly House, Flookersbrook, sheriff of Chester city in 1875, mayor in 1880 and 81 and again in 1884 and 85, is the second son. The deceased married at the Collegiate Church (now the Cathedral), Manchester, on December 10th, 1846, Emma, daughter of Charles Travis Faulkner, of Newton Grange, Manchester.'''

As a postscript to the above, Charles Brown was to survive his brother by only a few weeks, dying himself in April 1900. Despite the overheard comments of some Chester city guides, these Browns are not relatives of the Brownes who were silk-merchants in Chester and London and therefore unrelated to the Sir Thomas Browne who gave us the words "computer" and "electricity", despite the latter's connection with Chester.



It should perhaps be noted that Capt Richard Lathom's daughter, Catherine Latham, may not have become his "sole heir", but that is off-topic.

Brown of Chester Ancestry (partial)
From the above, in places rather confusing newspaper report, it is possible to reconstruct the family of the "Browns of Chester" as follows (although the more recent Browns require further research):


 * William Brown (fl. 1676) = Catherine Lathom (b. 1659) - daughter of Richard Lathom (b. 1621 - d. after 1654)
 * *William (b. 1676, d. 1720) = (1) wife (no issue) (2) wife (no issue) (3) ?
 * *William (alderman 1733) = Anne Golborne
 * *William (b. 1733) = Katherine Meredith
 * *John (b. 1756, d. 1810) = Susannah Towsey (b. 1758 - founded "Browns of Chester")
 * *William (d. 1852, no issue) - ran store
 * *Henry (d. 1853, no issue) - ran store
 * *Sarah (b. 1790)
 * *Eliza (b. 1794)
 * *John (b. 1792, d. 1846) = Ann Monk (of Neston)
 * *William (of Hoole b. 1816 - d. 1900) - ran store = Emma Faulkner
 * *Helena
 * *Louis (b. 1848)
 * *Francis - ran store - profession listed as "cabinet maker"
 * *Henry (Harry) (d. 1936) - ran store = Phyllis (donated Earls Eye to Chester)
 * *Ernest =
 * *Lucy Elizabeth = Rev Charles Griffin
 * *Daniel
 * *Charles (of Hoole, b. 1818 - d. 1900, no issue) - ran store
 * *Nessie (b. 1814 - d. 1905 - no issue)
 * *John = Mary
 * *Christopher
 * *Henry

N.B. Further research appears needed here as there appears to be some confusion around the Browns in the early 18th Cent. There was also in Chester a Henry Thomas Brown (Mayor 1899-1900, Alderman and solicitor), Colonel in the Volenteers, son of W H Brown (solicitor), and only son of H. T. Brown (London banker), himself the younger son of W H Brown a Buckinghamshire landowner who retired and selled in Chester. This Brown has a younger brother George who livev in Tasmania.

Browne of Netherlegh
There was a separate bramch of the Brownes south of the River Dee in Netherleigh and they may have been involved in the relocation of the High Cross to Netherleigh (see: Cowper) after the Civil War. The Victoria History gives the following information:


 * "The ancient mansion of Netherleigh Hall on its moated site passed with another part of the estate to the Browne family of Upton (sic), who resided there in the 17th and 18th centuries until they sold it to John Bennett of Chester in 1774. The hall, which had been fortified by Sir William Brereton in 1645 for use as his headquarters during the siege of Chester, was eventually let to tenants, and in the early 19th century was occupied by a farmer. It afterwards disappeared and at the time of writing its site was unknown."

An example of one member of this branch is given below:

Mathew Browne (d. 1634)
According to Earwaker his funeral certificate reads:


 * "Mathew Browne of the City of Chester, gentleman, dyed at his house in Handbridge vpon the .. daye of .. 1634 and was interred in St Maryes Church in Chester aforsayd. He married Katherine, daughter to Rafe Allen of the City of Chester, Alderman and widow of Mathew Ellis of Overleigh, nere Chester, gent and by him hay yssue Thomas, his sonne and heyre of the age of 14 years or thereabout at tyme of his fathers death, George 2nd sonne; Alice the only daughter. He has yssue also by her Elizabeth and Anne and a son not baptised which all dyed younge."

Mathew Ellis, as mentioned above, is interred at St Mary on the Hill where Hanshall and Hemingway both record his memorial tablet (Hemmingway locates it "in the Overleigh Pew", south aisle) as reading:


 * "Here lies interred Matthew Ellis of Overleigh in the county the city of Chester, one of the gentlemen of the body guard to Henry VIII son of Ellis ap Dio ap Gryffyth successor to Kenrick Sais a British Nobleman and lineally descended from Tudor Trevor of Hereford. He died April 20 1574. Alice his wife died lö47. His son Matthew Ellis of Overleigh gent died 1575 whose Eliz daughter of Thos. Browne of Netherlegh gent died 1570 having issue Julian who was married to Thos Cowper of Chester Esq. Margery and Matthew Ellis of Overlegh gent. He died July 13 1613. His wife daughter to Richard Birkenhead of Maule Esq died July 6 1640 having issue Katherine wife to Randle Holme Chester gent & Matthew Ellis of Overlegh gent who died Nov 2 1663 his wife Elizabeth daughter to Wm Halton of Baddiley gent married Anne daughter to John Birkenhead of Backford Esq. He died Feb 17 1685; she died Aug 4 1689. Beati sunt mortui qui in Domino moriuntur. ". The latin reads "Blessed are those who die in the Lord".

From the above it can be seen that the Brownes of Netherlegh were a well-connected Chester family, however the historical record turns up little of interest in their conduct other than a possible connection to the various relocations of some or all of Chester's High Cross. The male line appears to die out in the 1660's.

Browne of Netherlegh Family Tree
This is given in Earwaker as:



Browne of Upton
The Brownes of Upton are the more interesting of the two Browne families in Chester (Upton and Netherlegh).

Browne of Upton - Monuments
A good starting point for the story of the Brown(e)s of Chester is St Mary on the Hill, the original parish church of Upton, and where the Brownes provided many of the church-wardens. Earwaker's history of the church describes an early memorial board "formery placed against the north wall" (and since lost). The text (according to Earwaker) reads:


 * "This was set up in the memory of Richard Browne, of Upton, in y* County of Chester, gent, sone and heire to Thomas Browne, by Elizabeth his Wife, daughter to Henry Birkenhead, Esq., Clerk of ye Green Cloth to Queen Elizabeth, sone and heir of Rich. Browne, sone and heir of Thomas Browne, of Upton, aforesaid. The abovesaid Rich d Browne died the 4 of January 1624, having had 2 Wives, first Frances, daughter to Sr George Beverley, of Huntington, Knt, who died without Issue, secondly to Mary, daughter to Sr Tho. Aston, of Aston, Knt, by whom he had Issue Thomas Browne of Upton and Richd of London. She afterfwards married Jacques Arnodio, gent, and dyed y° 17 Feb. 1668 5 Aged 87 Years. Thomas Browne sone and heire died at Munster in Ireland 1643: he married Grissell daughter to Dobb of Ireland, by whom he had Issue Thomas, Rob e, Francis, Richard, Mary, Judith, Grissell and Dorothy. She died in Childbed ye 19 of June 1641. Thomas Browne sone and heire married Cicely daughter to William Glegge of Gayton Esq, who died in Childbed of her Daughter Cicely the 16 of March Ano Dni 1661."

The Clerk of the Green Cloth was a position in the British Royal Household. The clerk acted as secretary of the Board of Green Cloth, and was therefore responsible for organising royal journeys and assisting in the administration of the Royal Household. Henry Birkenhead senior (1548-1613) was appointed to the office of Prenotary of the Counties Chester and Flint around 1600, and Henry Birkenhead junior (1572-1646) to the office of Custos Brevium of the same counties.

One notes something odd about the monomental board descibed above: it was supposedly set up by Elizabeth, the wife of the Richard Browne who died in 1578. "Elizabeth", despite having died in 1602, then goes on to describe events as late as 1661: three generations later. It is possible that a later member of the family had the memorial board text added to, and if so, it is likely that was the Thomas Browne who died in 1702. An alternative reading of the text is that "it was set up to the memory of RB who was son to TB (by his wife EB)"

However Hanshall gives a different text (with the section relating to the Brownes of Upton itallicised in the text given below):


 * "Philippa wife of Thomas Browne, of Netherlegh, daughter of Tho. Berrington, of Chester, by whom he had 10 sons and 5 daughters; she died aged 42, May 6 1664 - The said Tho Berrington 1669 aged 42 having married to his second wife Jane, daughter Richard Leycester of Great Budworth, relict of Charles Levesby Chester who survived him - Ales daughter of Matthew Browne, of Netherlegh and wife of Thos Parnel of Chester obiit 5 Sept 1659. Matthew Browne gent obiit 24 Nov 1634. Richard Browne of Upton co Cest son & heir of Tho Browne by Elizabeth his wife to Henry Birkenhead Esq Clerk to the Green Cloth Q Eliz son and heir of Rich Browne son and heir of Tho Browne of Upton. This Richard Browne died Jan 4 1621, having had two wives; first Frances daughter of Sir Geo Beverley of Huntington Knt who died s.p. and 2d Mary daughter of Sir Thomas Ashton of Ashton Knt by whom he had Thos Browne of Upton, and Richard of London. She afterwards married Jaques Arnodie gent died 17th Feb 1668 aged 87 years. Thomas Browne, son died at Munster in Ireland having married Grisel daughter to --- Dobb of Ireland by whom he had Thomas, Robert, Francis, Mary, Judith, Grisel and Dorothy She died in Childbed 19th June 1641. Thomas Browne son and heir married Cicily daughter to Wm Glegg of Gayton Esq who died in Childbed of her daughter Cicily March 16 1661 --- Thomas Birkenhead gent Ales his wife; he died 12th November 1644; she died Jan 1691." ("died sp" means "decessit sine prole mascula" - died without male issue)

Richard Browne (b. 1562 - d. Jan 1624/5)
In 1587-8 Richard Browne sold land in Upton and Wervin to Henry Birkenhead (of Backford Hall). Called The Acres, it consisted of 16 acres in all lying between Upton Common, Wervin Common and the high road that led to Caughall. Secondly, in 1595-6 Richard Browne again sold land, this time to Will Aldersey. Called Great Acres, it had a value of £80 and was again in the vicinity of the first sale. Richard matriculated at Brasenose on 4th July 1579 at the age of 17 and by 1583 was a law-student at the Inner Temple in London, where he gave his address as Hoole. Richard is the eldest brother of Thomas, father to Sir Thomas Browne, and like Thomas evidently moved to London (at least to study). He must have returned to Chester as his youngest son Richard (who was born close to the time of his death) was baptised at St. Mary on the Hill. Richards other siblings include Edward, uncle to Sir Thomas. Edward, who became a grocer, was admitted to the King's School in 1582, also appears to have moved to London (with his brother Thomas and another brother, William).

Brothers Thomas (d. 1643) and Richard (bapt 1627) Brown
The unfortunate Richard Browne of London (Sir Thosas cousin) is described as a London silk merchant prior to 1646 and then afterwards described as "of Upton". His lands were sequestered in 1646 (when he was aged about 20) and he oompounded for his estate at £24/15s. Given his relatively young age he can hardly have done much in the Civil War. Richard's father, another Richard, died at about the time of Richard's birth in early 1625. It is worth noting that he was not the only member of the Browne family who had moved to London to enter the trade of a mercer (silk merchant) at about this time - Thomas (d. 1613) father of Sir Thomas Browne had done the same. Curiously, at about the same time, the family of a future wife of the founder of Brown's department store were seemingly already engaged in the London-Chester fashion trade.

It is very likely Richard Browne returned from London to Chester following the death of his elder brother, Thomas Browne of Upton, who died in Munster (Ireland) in 1643. Richard's sister-in-law (Grissell) had died in June 1641 (while giving birth to son Richard, who died in November of the same year) and his nephews, with the exception of one minor (Thomas b. circa 1639) had all pre-deceased his brother. Whether Thomas Browne who died in 1643 had any involvement with the ongoing war in Ireland is unknown but there was a minor battle at Cloughleagh (4 June 1643) involving Royalist troops from Munster, where this somewhat tragic Richard Browne died.

A look at the amcestral tree of the Browne's of Upton shows that the direct male line was reduced to a single member in and shortly after the time of Richard Browne. While the surviving nephew Thomas (b. 1639) would survive and marry Cicely Glegge, they would only have a single daughter at whose birth (March 1662) Cicely Glegge would herself perish.

Browne of Upton Family Tree
Using Earwaker, Hanshall and other sources (see sources and links) it is possible to tentatively re-create the pedigree of the Browes of Upton as follows:


 * Thomas Browne of Upton = Alice Whitley of Shotton
 * *Thomas Browne = Katherine Harvey (lived in Upton)
 * *Thomas Browne (b. 1540 - d. 1578) = Eizabeth Birkenhead (d. 1602) - last common ancestors (grandparents) of the Brownes of Upton and Sir Thomas Browne
 * *Richard Browne (b. 1562 - d. Jan 1625 - lived in Hoole) = (1) Francis Beverley (no issue) = (2) Mary (d. 1668) (daughter to Sir Thomas Aston see:Civil War and Brereton - she later married Jaques Arnodio - "a Frenchman")
 * *Thomas Browne (d. 1643 in Munster (Ireland)) = Grissell (d. 1641)
 * *Thomas Browne (bapt. 1639 - d. 1702) = Cicely Gleggge of Gayton (bapt. 1624 - d. 1661)
 * *Cicely Browne (b. 1661 - d. 1702)
 * *Robert Browne (bapt. 1640 - d.1664)
 * *Francis (b. 1640, died young)
 * *Richard (b. 1641, died young)
 * *Mary (b. 1632) = Thomas Critchley (had issue..)
 * *Judith (b. 1634} = Thomas Kelsall
 * *Grissell (b. 1635) = (1) John Leacher = (2) Owen Sanderson
 * *Dorothy (b. 1636) = Thomas Shepherd

(other children of Richard Browne and Mary)
 * *Richard Brown (bapt 1627; later moved to London) - estates sequestered in 1646 (returned to Chester following death of elder brother) = Susan Cole (of St Albans) (had issue..)

(other children of Thomas Browne and Elizabeth - from her 1602 funeral certificate)
 * *Jane Brown (d. 1627) = Richard Hartley (had issue..)
 * *Henry (d. in Oxford around 1580, aged 19)
 * *Edward (moved to London)
 * *Francis
 * *Anne = (1) John Smethwick, (2) John Dutton
 * *William (moved to London)
 * *Fernando
 * *Hugh
 * *Thomas (moved to London, d. 1613) = Anne Garraway (her second marriage was to Sir Thomas Dutton)
 * *Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) = Dorothy Mileham (1621-1685)
 * *Edward (1644–1708)
 * *Thomas (d. 1710)
 * *Elizabeth (b. 1648 - d.after 1728) = Captain George Lyttelton (b. 1593 - son of John Lyttelton MP - d. 1717)
 * *Anne
 * *Frances = Henry Fairfax
 * *Frances Fairfax (d. 31 Jul 1719) = The ninth Earl Buchan

(other children of Thomas and Anne - Sir Thomas sisters)
 * *Anne = John Palmer
 * *Jane = Thomas Price (1599-1685) - translated to the archbishopric of Cashel on 20 May 1667
 * *Mary = Nevill Craddock

Sir Thomas Browne


After Thomas Browne of Upton moved to London, his son (later Sir Thomas Browne) eventually prospered and became the once noted writer who is largely forgotten today. In Sir Thomas own words (omitting his part in Witch Trials):


 * "..I was born in St Michael's Cheap in London, went to school at Winchester College, then went to Oxford, spent some years in foreign parts, was admitted to be a Socius Honorarius of the College of Physicians in London, Knighted September 1671, when the King Charles II, the Queen and Court came to Norwich. Writ Religio Medici in English, which was since translated into Latin, French, Italian, High and Low Dutch, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Enquiries into Common and Vulgar Errors translated into Dutch four or five years ago. Hydriotaphia, or Urn Buriall. Hortus Cyri, or de Quincunce. Have some miscellaneous tracts which may be published.."

Early Years
Sir Thomas Browne was born in 1605, the third year of James I and just a few years before the publication of "Novum Organum" by Francis Bacon. The title of Bacon's work is a reference to Aristotle's work Organon, which was his treatise on logic and syllogism. In Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism and sets the scene for science to develop various methodologies, because he made the case against older Aristotelian approaches to science, arguing that method was needed because of the natural biases and weaknesses of the human mind, including the natural bias it has to seek metaphysical explanations which are not based on real observations. As will be seen, Browne did not entirely abandon the superstitions of earlier days: the believed in astrology and gave evidence before at least one witch trial. However he stands on the cusp of the "age of reason" when "free rational inquiry" superceeded religion and other forms of dogma.

Browne’s father, Thomas, had come in early manhood from Chester to London, where he was a mercer, or silk merchant. According to the most prevalent version, here he married Anne Garroway of Acton, Middlesex and they lived in comfortable circumstances with their son and four daughters. In the "Pedigree of Sir Thomas Browne" (see link below) a different version is given:


 * "The mother of Sir Thomas Browne was Anne, daughter of Powle Garraway of Lewes. She was married to Thomas Browne, mercer, of the parish of St. Michael-le-Querne, Cheapside, before 1605, in which year Sir Thomas was born. He was the youngest of four children — two sons and two daughters."

Browne himself is the only source for his mother having lived in Lewes, and does not help matters: writing to son Edward in the last winter of his life, Browne remembers "being carried to his grandfather's house in Lewys". This has been taken to suggest that his mother was born there, although it could equally mean that his grandfather moved there later. Also, note that the "Pedigree" states that Browne was the youngest of two sons and two daughters - this appears to be untrue, with Thomas having three surviving sisters out of a possibly larger number of siblings, at least one of whom appears to have died young.

The Silk Trade


Italy had a thriving silk industry from the 13th century and France from the 15th century, using both black and (predominantly) white mulberry leaves to feed their silkworms. In 1559 silk fabrics constituted 3.3% of imports and 5.1% in 1622. Raw silk was 1.1% of imports in 1559 and 7.5% in 1622. During the 17th century as a whole, silk imports constituted from 23% to 29% of the value of all imports. By the late 17th century, silk, either raw, or as silk thread worked especially by the weavers in Spitalfields, London, was the most valuable of all raw material imports to England. In 1609 King James I attempted to kick-start a strategic, native silk industry. Ten thousand trees were imported from all over Europe, and the king required landowners “to purchase and plant mulberry trees at the rate of six shillings per thousand”. But James made the mistake – some say he was deliberately wrongly advised by the perfidious French – of ordering the black mulberry instead of the white version. The latter is the natural food of silkworms but grows less well in England. Within a few years the silkworm project failed.

Brownes father had apprenticed himself Master Richard Barnes and paid three shillings are fourpence for his freedom in 1594. He became a member of the Mercers Livery Company in October 1604. The birthdate of the father must be prior to around 1578 (when his own father died) so he was at least 16 when he became "free" and possibly not that much older as he died quite young with a pregnant wife mentioned in his will.

Education
The senior Browne died in 1613 when his son was eight years old. After the death of Thomas Browne senior Anne married Sir Thomas Dutton, and this remarriage within only six months of her bereavement led to intervention of the Court of Orphans of the City of London into the disposition of the will. Her dead husband's elder brother Edward had been a fellow executor but Anne had proceeded to probate in his absence, and the Court questioned her declaration that Thomas Browne had died with negligible wealth. In truth he had about £5000, owed about £11,000 and was himself owed more less the same. Eventually Anne was excluded from the executorship and Thomas Jr.'s uncle Edward was appointed to act alone — to the lasting benefit of the young Thomas and his four sisters, it also apparently left sufficient means for the sons education. Accordingly, the boy was sent to Winchester College in 1615 (aged 11).

William of Wykeham’s famous school (set up to educate "poor" sons of the lower gentry) was Anglican and Royalist, and provided a sound classical education that was a good foundation for the erudition acquired by Browne in later years. He remained at Winchester for eight years, until, in 1623, he proceeded to Oxford. After failing to get into New College following what may well have been aa rigged examination, he matriculated at Broadgates Hall, which soon afterward was upgraded to become Pembroke College. Browne, although only a freshman, was called upon (August 1624) to deliver a Latin oration at the inauguration ceremony.

Step-father Sir Thomas Dutton (d. 1634) had served as a soldier in the Low Countries and (in 1610), barely survived a bloody and barbaric duel with a superior officer on Calais Sands in which Sir Hatton Cheke was killed. Dutton was evidently a braggart with debts but royal favour: King James made him "Scoutmster General" of Ireland for life - a position with a substantial salary.

Winchester would have afforded the boy little or no opportunity for study of the natural sciences (until the 1860s the predominant subject of instruction for Wykamites was classics), so it was probably during the school holidays that he began to acquire his knowledge of natural history.

At Oxford a chair of anatomy was just being established (the Chair of the Tomlins Readership in Anatomy was founded 1624) in addition to several other chairs of physical sciences. Browne’s teachers included Dr. Clayton (last Principal of Broadgates Hall and first Master of Pembroke), an anatomist and Regius professor of medicine, and Dr. Thomas Lushington, a mathematician and clergyman (and so fond of a drink that he eventually became the original "lush"). Clayton’s influence directed Browne’s attention to the study of medicine and human anatomy, but this could not begin seriously until he had taken his M.A. in philosophy in 1629.



Travels
He then left Oxford and spent some weeks in Ireland with his stepfather, Sir Thomas Dutton (a member of the Cheshire Duttons), before proceeding to Montpellier for full training in medicine. On his journey to see his stepfather (or his return) he may well have visited Chester - the Duttons of course had relatives nearby, and it was a principal port for the voyage to Ireland. Confirmation that he did visit Chester (on his return from Ireland) comes from a poem (in two versions) written by Browne, about his experiences of the stormy seas between Dublin and Chester. Writing to his worried daughter Elizabeth in September 1681 (she was married to a sea-captain and had just seen a ship founder), Browne includes a copy of the poem and recalls:


 * "I came once from Dublin to Chester at Michaelmas and was so tossed, that nothing but milk and possets would goe down me 2 or 3 days after.."

He might even have met somewhat tragic brothers Thomas and Richard Browne in Chester. The truly remarkable thing about the poem ("A tempest at sea") - said to be annotated: "at the Crowe Inne in Chester at his Coming from Ireland" - is that it has the same metrical structure as "Those in Peril on the Sea" (more properly known as "Eternal Father, Strong to Save") written some hundreds of years later (1860) by William Whiting (1 November 1825 – 3 May 1878) an alumni and later headmaster of Sir Thomas' old school - Winchester - who was almost certainly familiar with Sir Thomas' work, although no link between the two works has ever been proved:


 * "In vayne we do the Pilot coart / the bottome of the sea's our port / no Anckers in the sea wee cast; / Our Ancker is in heaven fast. / our only hopes on him wee Laye / to whom both Seas and winds obeye."

An inn caled "The Sign of the Crow" existed in Chester from s first mention in 1580, until it became "The Royal Oak" by 1703. The pub (at 44 Foregate Street) sadly closed down in the 1980s and later became a branch of the electrical retailers Dixon's, and then Curry's, which in turn closed in 2009: it is now a health food store.

It is not known how long Browne remained in France, but his travels in several European countries cannot have occupied less than four years. He probably spent some time in Padua, but his final goal was Leiden, where he defended his thesis and received his M.D. in December 1633. A university city since 1575, Leiden has been one of Europe's most prominent scientific centres ever since. During these travels he studied many subjects besides medicine, absorbing information of all kinds and acquiring knowledge of several modern languages. As will be seen, Thomas encouraged his children, including son Edward, to travel in the pursuit of knowledge and experience. As for himself, after his youthful travels, he mostly stayed in Norfolk once settled down and there is no evidence that he ever left the county after he moved there.

Apprentice
English regulations required a medical man with a foreign degree to practice for four years with an established doctor before being allowed to have his M.D. by incorporation at Oxford or Cambridge. It is probable that Browne spent some of these years of apprenticeship somewhere in Oxfordshire, but no details are known. It has also been suggested he spent some time in Shibden (Yorkshire). He took his M.D. at Oxford on 10 July 1637 and was then, at the age of thirty-two, free to practice anywhere that he chose. It was during these four years that Browne wrote his most famous book, Religio medici, which was not published until 1642. Influenced, it is believed, by his former tutor at Oxford Dr. Lushington (who was the Rector of Burnham Westgate in Norfolk), Browne moved (in 1637) to the East Anglia city of Norwich and established himself there as a physician.

In Norfolk he was largely shielded from the ongoing Civil War. The county supported Parliament, although there was a strong element of Royalist support. The defences of Norwich and the main ports were strengthened and in December 1642 the Eastern Association was formed to place the region on a war footing, but little blood was shed in Norfolk, which was held by Parliament throughout the war. Studies of Browne seem to indicate a Royalist sympathy. Despite this his assets were never sequestrated and he did not have to compund for their return, unlike his unfortunate cousin (Richard) in Chester.



Married Life
In 1641 he married Dorothy Mileham, from the neighboring village of Burlingham. They had twelve children, only four of whom survived their parents. Edward, the eldest son, became a well-known physician in London and was president of the College of Physicians in 1704. Keynes writes of Browne's life at this time:


 * "It is not known where they lived from 1643 to 1650, but it is certain that at this last date they were resident in the parish of St. Peter Mancroft in a large house at the south end of the Market Place facing the Haymarket, the side forming part of Orford Place. This fine house with its moulded ceilings and oak panelling was destroyed in 1845, the only remaining relic being th emagnificent carved-oak fireplace and overmantel with great onyx bosses in panels on either side. This object,now preserved in the Castle Museum, suggests a fairly sumptuous mode of life, and we may be sure that Browne enjoyed the rewards of a large private practice, no doubt conducted mostly on horseback, but perhaps going by coach for the longer journeys."

Browne’s private meadow, where he studied wild plants, is now a car park. The site of Browne’s former house is now occupied by a "Pret a Manger".

Browne was knighted in 1671 by King Charles II, who was visiting Norwich and wished to honor its most distinguished citizen. The courtier John Evelyn, who had occasionally corresponded with Browne, took good use of the royal visit to call upon "the learned doctor" of European fame and wrote of his visit, "His whole house and garden is a paradise and Cabinet of rarities and that of the best collection, amongst Medails, books, Plants, natural things". At the same time or shortly thereafter, Charles visited Browne's home. A banquet was held in St Andrew's Hall for the royal visit. Obliged to honour a notable local, the name of the Mayor of Norwich was proposed to the King for knighthood. The Mayor, however, declined the honour and proposed Browne's name instead.

Works
Browne’s Religio medici describes the religion and philosophy of a tolerant, humorous, and latitudinarian mind. He did not, however, expose in it much of his attitude toward the rapidly expanding world of science. Yet throughout his apprenticeship and first years in Norwich he must have been reading widely in travel, philosophy, medicine, and science, and compiling the notebooks from which he quarried his next, very long book, Pseudodoxia epidemica: or, Enquiries Into Very Many Received Tenents, And Commonly Presumed Truths (1646). In this he sought to dispel popular ignorance about many matters in history, folklore, philology, science, medicine, natural history, and embryology. He was, thus, to be designated an “enquirer after truth” rather than a “scientist” (a term not yet invented), his field of inquiry being as wide as all human knowledge. He accepted the authority of William Harvey, one of the first great experimental scientists, and told a young correspondent: “Be sure you make yourself master of Dr. Harvey’s piece, De circulatione sanguinis, which discovery I prefer to that of Columbus.”



Browne conducted many experiments in physics, electricity (a word of his own coining), biology, and comparative anatomy, dissecting animals, birds, fishes, reptiles, worms, and insects. He became an acknowledged authority on the plants, animals, birds, and fishes of East Anglia. Many of his experiments are mentioned in his Pseudodoxia epidemica and his letters. Others, such as investigations of bubbles, and of coagulation, freezing, and other properties of matter remained in the privacy of his notebooks.

He was deeply interested in archaeology; one of his most famous books was Hydriotaphia, or, Urneburiall (1658), occasioned by the discovery of some supposed Roman (really Saxon) burial urns near Norwich. He corresponded with other eminent antiquaries, such as Sir William Dugdale (see: Randle Holme for more on him), Elias Ashmole, and John Aubrey. With these manifold interests and occupations, it is not surprising that Browne is remembered as a learned man and a literary artist rather than for any important contributions to contemporary science. His qualities served to foster a general interest in science and, above all, to illuminate thought by truth concerning the material world. Yet Hydriotaphia is about far more than science, as it wanders frequently into metaphysical speculation and commentary:


 * "But man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing Nativities and Deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting Ceremonies of Bravery, in the infamy of his nature. Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible Sun within us."

Throughout his active life Browne lived on the fringe of the scientific world. His profession was medicine; his hobbies were science and natural history. He was an earnest amateur and never, as far as is known, left Norfolk for London. He was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians, but was never a fellow of the Royal Society of London, nor did he betray any desire for this kind of recognition. His elaborate and highly latinized prose style was very different from the much more austere style deliberately adopted by the fellows of the Royal Society. He was content to correspond with various fellows, such as Henry Oldenburg (secretary of the Society), John Ray, Christopher Merrett, and the diarist John Evelyn, and occasionally to send communications through his son Edward.

Superstition
In Religio Medici, Browne confirmed his belief, in accordance with the vast majority of seventeenth century European society, in the existence of angels and witchcraft. Similarly he believed in Astrology. He attended the 1662 Bury St Edmunds witch trial, where his citation of a similar trial in Denmark may have influenced the jury's minds of the guilt of two accused women. He also testified that:


 * "'that the fits were natural, but heightened by the Devil's co-operating with the malice of the witches, at whose instance he did the villanies'"

The two elderly defendents (Amy Duny and Rose Cullender) were subsequently executed for witchcraft. This case became a model for, and was referenced in, the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts, when the magistrates were looking for proof that "spectral evidence" could be used in a court of law. The original pamphlet "A Tryal of Witches", taken from a contemporary report of the Bury St Edmunds proceedings is mentioned by John Hale (whose wife was accused at Salem) in his publication, Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft, which noted how the judges consulted for precedents and lists the 60-page publication "A Tryal of Witches".

Death


Browne died on 19 October 1682 and was buried in the chancel of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich. His skull was removed when his lead coffin was accidentally re-opened by workmen in 1840. It was not re-interred in St Peter Mancroft until 4 July 1922 when it was recorded in the burial register as aged 317 years. Browne's coffin plate, which was stolen the same time as his skull, was also eventually recovered, broken into two halves, one of which is on display at St Peter Mancroft. Alluding to the commonplace opus of alchemy it reads:


 * "Amplissimus Vir Dns. Thomas Browne, Miles, Medicinae Dr., Annos Natus 77 Denatus 19 Die mensis Octobris, Anno. Dni. 1682, hoc Loculo indormiens. Corporis Spagyrici pulvere plumbum in aurum Convertit." — translated from Latin as "The esteemed Gentleman Thomas Browne, Knight, Doctor of Medicine, 77 years old, died on the 19th of October in the year of Our Lord 1682 and lies sleeping in this coffin. With the dust of the alchemical body he converts lead into gold".

Brownes skull was presented to the Museum of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital - where it remained until 1922 when, after a number of casts were taken, it was returned to his grave in St. Peter Mancroft. Ironically, Browne wrote:


 * "to be gnawed out of our graves, to have our skulls made drinking bowls and our bones turned into pipes is a Tragical abomination".

Little did he know that this would be his own fate. Worse was to come, in 2012 a sculpture of his brain was installed near the place of Browne’s internment.

Legacy
Sir Thomas Browne had, in total, forty children and grand-children, yet within twenty-eight years of his decease the male line had become extinct; and of the third generation, none survived their infancy, excepting in the family of his second daughter, Anne, of whose eight children none left any descendants, except the third daughter, Frances Fairfax, who had married the Earl of Buchan.

Browne appears at No. 69 in the Oxford English Dictionary's list of top cited sources. He has 775 entries in the OED of first usage of a word, is quoted in a total of 4131 entries of first evidence of a word, and is quoted 1596 times as first evidence of a particular meaning of a word. Examples of his coinages, many of which are of a scientific or medical nature, include 'ambidextrous', 'antediluvian', 'analogous', 'approximate', 'ascetic', 'anomalous', 'carnivorous', 'coexistence', 'coma', 'compensate', 'computer', 'cryptography', 'cylindrical', 'disruption','ergotisms', 'electricity', 'exhaustion', 'ferocious', 'follicle', 'generator', 'gymnastic', 'hallucination', 'herbaceous', 'holocaust', 'insecurity', 'indigenous', 'jocularity', 'literary', 'locomotion', 'medical', 'migrant', 'mucous', 'prairie', 'prostate', 'polarity', 'precocious', 'pubescent', 'therapeutic', 'suicide', 'ulterior', 'ultimate' and 'veterinarian'.



After his death on 19 October 1682 and following the death of his wife and sometime executrix, Lady Dorothy Browne, on 24 February 1684/5, Browne's papers and library passed to his eldest surviving son, Dr Edward Browne (1644-1708). Following the latter's death, they passed to Sir Thomas's grandson, Dr Thomas Browne, who died in 1710 after "giving himself up to drinking" and "in consequence of a fall from his horse". Certain members of the Browne family then took the decision to sell off the collections by auction in 1710. As for Sir Thomas's library, over 2,300 lots (amounting to nearly 2,900 volumes, in various languages) "Of the Libraries of the Learned Sir Thomas Brown, and Dr. Edward Brown, his Son" were offered for sale by the London bookseller Thomas Ballard in an auction beginning on 8 January 1710. The sale took place "at the black boy coffee house Ave-Maria Lane, near Ludgate" - which was the chief place for the auction of books, and had the previous year seen the sale of the book collection of the impoverished father of William Hogarth.

Quotes
One of his shorter tracts called "Museaum Clausum" was a catalogue for an imaginary museum with entries on books, pictures, and artifacts that didn’t exist. Browne’s erudite commentary, subtle humor, eclectic interests, and open-hearted manner won him many literary followers through the centuries. Samuel Johnson was a great admirer, as were Coleridge and Charles Lamb. Herman Melville admiringly referred to Browne as a “crack’d Archangel” and became such a fan of Browne’s prose that his own style began to mimic the good doctor’s. In 1851, Melville included a quote about sperm whales from Browne’s Pseudodoxia in the opening epigrams to Moby Dick. Melville’s contemporary, Edgar Allan Poe, likewise borrowed a phrase from Browne for the epigram of his own masterpiece, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Bram Stoker also made use of both Psuedodoxia Epidemica and Religio Medici when writing Dracula, transcribing passages about necromancy, dreams, and the devil into his notes for his 1897 Gothic novel.

Sir Thomas Browne's son, Edward (1644-1708)


Edward was educated at the Norwich grammar school and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated M.B. at Cambridge 1663, and then returned to Norwich. A journal of this period of his life is extant, and gives an amusing picture of his diversions and occupations, and of life in Norwich. Browne often went to dances at the duke's palace, admired the gems preserved there, and learnt to play the card-game "ombre" (pronounced "umber") from the duke's brother. He dissected nearly every day, sometimes a dog, sometimes a monkey, a calf's leg, a turkey's heart. He studied botany, read medicine and literature and theology in his father's library, and saw at least one patient. '16 Feb. Mrs. Anne Ward gave me my first fee, ten shillings.' A week after this important event Browne went to London. He attended the lectures of Dr. Teme, physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital (whose daughter Henrietta he married in 1672).

When the lectures were ended, Browne returned to Norwich, and soon after started on his travels. He went to Italy and came home through France, and it is by his description of this and of several subsequent journeys that he is best known. In 1668 he sailed to Rotterdam from Yarmouth and went to Leyden, Amsterdam, and Utrecht, visiting museums, libraries, and churches, attending lectures, and conversing with the learned. He went on to Antwerp, and ended his journey at Cologne on 10 Oct. 1668. His next journey was to Vienna, where he made friends with the imperial librarian Lambecius (Peter Lambeck), and enjoyed many excursions and much learned conversation. He wrote:


 * "The worthy Petrus Lambecius his Library Keeper, and who is in great esteem with him,(Emperor Leopold) will usually find out some Books for him which he conceiveth may be acceptable. While I was there he recommended a Translation of Religio Medici unto him, wherewith the Emperour (Leopold) was exceedingly pleased, and spake very much of it unto Lambecius, insomuch that Lambecius asked me whether I knew the Author,(Thomas Browne) he being of my own name, and whether he were living: And when he understood my near Relation to him, he became more kind and courteous than ever, and desired me to send him that Book in the Original English, which he would put into the Emperors Library."

He seems to have studied Greek colloquially, and brought back letters from a learned Greek in his own tongue to Dr. John Pearson, the bishop of Chester (1672-1686), and to Dr. Barrow, the master of Trinity. From Vienna Browne made three long journeys, one to the mines of Hungary, one into Thessaly, and one into Styria and Carinthia. Wherever he went he observed all objects natural and historical, as well as everything bearing on his profession. He sketched in a stiff manner, and some of his drawings are preserved (British Museum). At Buda he came into the oriental world, and at Larissa he saw the Grand Seigneur. Here he studied Greek remains, and followed in imagination the practice of Hippocrates. He returned to England in 1669, out made one more tour in 1673 in company with Sir Joseph Williamson (who was representing Britain at the Congress of Cologne), Sir Leoline Jenkins, and Lord Peterborough. He visited Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Liège, Louvain, Ghent, Bruges, and other towns of the Low Countries, and "saw all that was to be seen".

He published in London in 1673 a small quarto volume called 'A Brief Account of some Travels in Hungaria, Styria, Bulgaria, Thessaly, Austria, Serbia, Carynthia, Carniola, and Friuli;'. Another volume appeared in 1677, and in 1685 a collection of all his travels in one volume folio. It contains some small alterations and some additions. In 1672 he published in 12mo a translation of a 'History' of the Cossacks,' and he wrote the lives of Themistocles and Sertorius in Dryden's 'Plutarch,' published in 1700.

In 1667 Browne had been elected F.R.S., and in 1675 was admitted a fellow of the College of Physicians. He lived in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street (College of Physicians Lists), and became physician to the king (Charles II - he was eventually killed by his other doctors - Edward was not involved in the administration to the King of such dubious remedies as enemas, purgatives, blistering plasters, pidgeon droppings, crushed pearls, extract of human skull and the gallstone of a goat). He was elected physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital 7 Sept. 1682 (MS. Journal, St Barth. Hosp.); was treasurer of the College of Physicians 1694–1704, and president 1704–1708. He had a large practice, and enjoyed the friendship of many men in power.

A Grub Street writer attributes part of his good fortune to the favour of one of Charles II's mistresses ; but the statement has no foundation in fact. Browne's professional success was due to his general capacity and interesting conversation. His note-books show that be laboured hard at his profession, and that through good introductions he early became known to many physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. In 1673 he had already met in consultation thirteen physicians and ten surgeons (Sloane MS, 1895). A great many letters and notes in his handwriting are to be found among the Sloane MSS. Amongst them is the earliest known copy of the 'Pharmacopœia' of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It is edited 1670, and some of its prescriptions were the subject of correspondence between Browne and his father. Browne died at Northfleet, Kent (Munk, Coll. of Phys. i. 376), on 28 Aug. 1708, and left a son Thomas (1672-1710 - he died without issue), and a daughter. He is buried at Northfleet. In regard for his profession, in warm family affections, and in upright principles and conduct, he resembled his father; but the deeper strain of thought which is to be found in Sir Thomas Browne is nowhere to be traced in the writings of his eldest son.

Gulliver?
Jonathan Swift (he had attended several Black Boy auctions) may possibly have been at the auction of the library of Sir Thomas and Edward Brown, and may have purchased some of the collection. He later wrote Gulliver's Travels as partly a satire on travellers tales (including perhaps those of Edward Browne). It may not be a co-incidence that both Lemuel Gulliver and Edward Browne were medical doctors, but Edward's travel writings are hardly sensational and seem a wholly accurate and in no way fantastical description of his travels in Greece, Hungary etc.

Related Articles

 * Upton;
 * Hoole;
 * 1883 Reform Act;
 * Dutton;

Sources and Links



 * Earwaker, 'History of the Church and Parish of St. Mary-on-the-Hill, Chester,' completed by Dr. R. H. Morris, 1898;
 * Gleggs of Wirral;
 * Tradition and Innovation in English Retailing, 1700 to 1850;
 * Browns and Chester: Portrait of a Shop, 1780-1946;
 * A Thomas Browne page - has links to the full texts of many of his works and of early biographies;
 * Sir Thomas Browne's Works: Memoirs of Sir Thomas Browne. Domestic correspondence, journals. Miscellaneous correspondence - free e-book;
 * Barbour, "Sir Thomas Browne, A life" - Browne's life and works in detail;
 * The pedigree of Sir Thomas Browne by Williams, Charles, 1827-1907;
 * Calalog of English Literary Manuscripts 1450-1700 Sir Thomas Brown;
 * Sir Geoffrey Keynes on Browne - short, informative and at times amusing;
 * Death of Charles Brown - 1900;
 * Death of William Brown - 1900;
 * Thomas Browne as alchemist;
 * Quotes from Thomas Browne;
 * Thomas Brownes Skull;
 * The New Yorker on Browne;
 * Paper from JRSMed;
 * Memorials of the Duttons - mentions the Brownes. possibly even Sir Thomas;