Anthony Browne

Who was Anthony Browne?

Sir Anthony Browne was an English courtier and Knight of the Shire.

He was the son of Sir Anthony Browne, Standard Bearer of England and Governor of Queenborough Castle, by his wife Lady Lucy Neville, daughter of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu and widow of Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam. Anthony junior was thereby half-brother of William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton.

By 1528, Browne married Alice, daughter of Sir John Gage, and by her had seven sons and three daughters which included:

⁕Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu;

⁕Mary Browne, who married John Grey of Pirgo and was the mother of Henry Grey, 1st Baron Grey of Groby;

⁕Mabel Browne, who married Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare.

His recorded royal service 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 included him in an embassy to hand over Tournai to Francois I. Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, knighted him on 1 July 1522. In 1525 he was made lieutenant of the Isle of Man. He was ambassador to France in 1527, reporting home in increasingly anti-French terms. In 1539 he was appointed Master of the Horse for life.