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Author: Browne, William

Biography:

BROWNE, William (1590/1-c. 1645: ODNB)

A prior author whose unpublished poems, written in 1615, were edited from a manuscript in the BL by Samuel Egerton Brydges (q.v.) and issued from his Lee Priory press. He was the son of Thomas Browne and his wife Joane Healen of Tavistock, Devon. On 1 Mar. 1612 he was admitted to the Inner Temple where he became the unofficial poet in residence. He is known to have published two works—Two Elegies, Consecrated to the Memorie of Henry Prince of Wales (1613; written with Christopher Brooke) and The Shepherd’s Pipe (1614)—before the appearance of his major work, Britannia’s Pastorals, in 1616 (Book 1 was issued in 1613). He was patronised by the Herbert family and, as tutor to Robert Dormer (a ward of the Herberts), he matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, on 30 Apr. 1624 (MA Nov. 1624). On 24 Dec. 1628 he married Timothy or Tymothea Eversfield, daughter of Sir Thomas Eversfield of Horsham, Sussex. (There may have been a previous marriage but evidence is wanting.) They had three sons but just one survived. They lived at Horsham but later moved to Dorking, Surrey. The date of his death is inferred from his will which was proved on 6 Nov. 1645. However, a memorial to him in St. Eustachius cemetery in Tavistock, Devon, gives the year of his death as 1643. (ODNB 7 Sept. 2023; ancestry.co.uk 7 Sept. 2023)

 

 

Books written (1):

Lee Priory, Kent: Lee Priory Press, [1816]