Sir Valentine Browne facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sir Valentine Browne
Died	8 February 1589 Dublin
Family	Ancestor of the Earls of Kenmare
Spouse(s)	1. Alice (or Elizabeth) Alexander 2. Thomasine Bacon
Issue Detail	Valentine, Nicholas, Thomas, & others
Father	Sir Valentine Browne of Croft

Sir Valentine Browne (died 1589) was an important English official who lived in the 1500s. He worked as an auditor, treasurer, and food supplier for the English army at Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town near the Scottish border. He also gained a lot of land in Ireland during a time when the English government was setting up new settlements there. He lived at Ross Castle near Killarney, in County Kerry, Ireland. Sir Valentine was also a Member of Parliament (MP) in both England and Ireland.

Early Life and Family

Valentine Browne was likely born in the early 1500s in Croft, a place in Lincolnshire, England. He was the oldest son of another Sir Valentine Browne, who passed away in 1568. His family had lived in other parts of England before moving to Lincolnshire. We don't know much about his mother.

His First Marriage

Valentine Browne first married a woman named Alice or Elizabeth Alexander, who was from London.

Valentine and Alice had one son:

• Valentine Browne (died 1606). This son later became the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire and inherited his father's lands in England. He married Elizabeth Monson. They also had a son named Valentine, who became an MP for Lincolnshire.

It's not clear if the Valentine Browne who was knighted by King James I in 1603 was Sir Valentine's eldest son or his grandson.

His Second Marriage

Sir Valentine Browne later married Thomasine Bacon. She was the daughter of Robert Bacon and the sister of Nicholas Bacon, who was a very important legal official called the Lord Keeper.

Valentine and Thomasine had two sons:

• Nicholas (died 1606). He was knighted and became Sir Nicholas. He received most of his father's lands in Ireland.
• Thomas (died 1640). He received the village of Hospital, County Limerick, in Ireland.

They also had a daughter:

• Elizabeth

Working for the Queen

From 1550 to 1553, Browne worked as an auditor at Berwick Castle. An auditor checks financial records. From 1553 to 1560, he was the main auditor for all of Ireland.

In 1559, Queen Elizabeth I of England appointed him as the Surveyor General of Ireland. This meant he was in charge of surveying lands. Later, he became the Auditor of the Exchequer, which involved managing government money.

Berwick Duties

In the 1560s, Queen Elizabeth gave Browne several important jobs at Berwick-upon-Tweed. This town was a key military base for the English army near the border with Scotland. As a victualler and treasurer, he was responsible for paying the soldiers and making sure they had enough food.

Helping in Scottish Conflicts

Sir Valentine was also involved in managing money for talks and agreements during the Scottish Reformation and the Marian civil war in Scotland. In this war, England supported the King's party, which was led by Regent Moray, who ruled Scotland for the young James VI of Scotland. They were fighting against the Queen's party, which supported Mary, Queen of Scots.

In 1568, a Scottish lord named Robert Melville talked about getting loans for the King's party. These loans would be secured using Mary, Queen of Scots's jewels. In 1569, Regent Moray arranged for his diplomat, John Wood, to get money from Browne.

The Rising of the North

In 1569, two powerful English earls, Westmoreland and Northumberland, started a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth. They supported the Catholic religion and believed Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots should be the Queen of England. The rebels took over Durham on November 14, 1569.

Lord Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, who was in charge of the North of England, gathered an army in York. He marched against the rebels on December 13. Browne remained loyal to Queen Elizabeth and led some troops in this march. We know this from a letter he wrote on December 16, 1569, as they neared Durham. The rebels avoided fighting Sussex's stronger army and fled into Scotland.

Smaller landowners who were part of the rebellion were forgiven if they paid a fine. These fines were collected by Thomas Gargrave and then given to Browne, who was the treasurer, in July 1570. Browne was knighted by Sussex in 1570, becoming Sir Valentine.

Later Political Life

In 1571, Sir Valentine was elected as an MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed in the English Parliament. In 1572, he was elected as an MP for Thetford in another English Parliament.

Records show that a Valentine Browne started studying at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1570. However, this date seems too late for it to be the same Sir Valentine Browne who is the subject of this article.

Sir Valentine was the Governor of Berwick in May 1573. During this time, there was a long siege of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. After the siege, Sir Valentine got some of the jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots. Sadly, his page (a young servant) named Gilbert Edward stole some of these jewels, including a diamond and ruby mermaid and a gold chain with Sir Valentine's initials.

In 1583, Sir Valentine wrote a letter from Hoxton about how run-down many castles in the north of England were, such as Bamborough Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Norham Castle, and Etal Castle.

English Settlements in Ireland

In 1584, Sir Valentine became involved in the Plantation of Munster. This was a plan by the English government to settle English people on lands in the Irish province of Munster. This area had been badly damaged by the Desmond Rebellions, which ended in 1583 when the rebel leader, Gerald FitzGerald, was killed. His lands were taken by the government.

Sir Valentine and Henry Wallop were put in charge of surveying these lands in July 1584. Sir Valentine wrote a letter in October 1584, explaining how difficult the work was. He said he "travailed hard" (worked very hard) surveying the land, going through swamps, woods, mountains, and dangerous rivers. He even lost some of his horses and almost drowned twice! His son also broke his arm during this work. He described the towns as ruined and said that very few people were left alive after a famine. However, he noted that the lands had plenty of wood, rivers, and fish. Sir Valentine's survey divided the seized lands into 35 large areas called seignories.

While living at Ross Castle near Killarney, Sir Valentine was elected as an MP for County Sligo in the Irish Parliament in April 1585.

In 1586, he was again elected as an MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed in the English Parliament. This Parliament asked for Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots to be executed.

In 1587, Sir Valentine returned to Ireland and asked for one of the seignories. He was first given Currans, but it was later given to someone else. Instead, he was given the nearby seignory of Molahiffe. This land had belonged to two lords who had joined the rebels and died in the war. Another Irish lord, Donald McCarthy, claimed the lands for himself. However, at a meeting in London in 1588, he mortgaged (borrowed money against) the lands to Sir Valentine. Sir Valentine ended up owning about 6,500 acres (26 square kilometers) of land in County Kerry, plus other lands like the village of Hospital, County Limerick. He built a castle near Hospital, which he called Kenmare Castle. In 1588, when the Spanish Armada threatened England, he commanded a company of soldiers for Ireland's defense.

Death and Legacy

Sir Valentine Browne died on February 8, 1589, in Dublin, Ireland. He was buried in St Catherine's Church, Dublin (Church of Ireland) on February 19, 1589.

His eldest son, Valentine Browne of Croft, inherited his lands in England. His second son, Nicholas, and his son Thomas, inherited his lands in Ireland. Nicholas was knighted and became Sir Nicholas. He married Sheila O'Sullivan Beare. Nicholas may have become Catholic to marry her.

Images for kids

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  The coat of arms of the Browne family.