Author: Browne, John
Biography:
BROWNE, John (1773-1814: ancestry.co.uk)
His book of translations from Latin and Greek, completed and published when he was a schoolboy, was edited by the Rev. Robert Ashe, vicar of Crewkerne in Somerset. Ashe hoped to help his gifted pupil financially and he succeeded in interesting numerous subscribers. Ashe’s introduction supplies a brief account of the author. He was born on 2 Apr. 1773 in Whitchurch, Hampshire, the eldest child of William and Sarah Browne. He was privately baptised in Whitchurch and baptised again in Crewkerne on 8 May 1778 with three younger siblings, William, Frances, and Jesse. Ashe identifies his father as an exciseman who taught for the additional income; by the time of publication of Browne’s book, William and Sarah had eight children. Browne was admitted as a scholar to the grammar school in Crewkerne where Ashe was the master. He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 2 July 1788 (BA 1792, MA 1796) and was ordained a deacon in 1796 and a priest in 1797. He was appointed curate at Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire, in 1801 and in 1802 he became rector of Helmdon, Northamptonshire, where he remained until his death. He married Martha Miller of Finedon, Bedfordshire, on 13 Oct. 1803. They had three children: Alfred (b 1804), John Bampton (b 1806), and Arthur (b 1808). Browne died in Helmdon at the age of 41 in Apr. 1814 and was buried there on 17 Apr. His children came under the care of the Society for Maintaining and Educating Poor Orphans of the Clergy. Martha is recorded in the 1841 Census as living in Finedon; by 1851 she was in Chichester, living with her brother, a clergyman, in Cathedral Close. Browne does not appear to have published any other books. (John Browne, Poetical Translations [1786]; ancestry.co.uk 17 July 2023; Alumni Oxonienses; CCEd 17 July 2023; GM 94 [1803], 1252; An Account of the Society for Maintaining and Educating Poor Orphans of the Clergy [1817, 1820]) SR
Other Names:
- Master John Browne