Garech Domnagh Browne (25 June 1939 – 10 March 2018) was an Irish
art collector
A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...
and a notable patron of
Irish art
The history of Irish art starts around 3200 BC with Neolithic stone carvings at the Newgrange megalithic tomb, part of the Brú na Bóinne complex which still stands today, County Meath. In early-Bronze Age Ireland there is evidence of Beaker cult ...
s, traditional Irish music in particular. He was often known by the
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
designation of his name, Garech de Brún, or alternatively Garech a Brún, especially in Ireland.
Family
Browne was the eldest of the three sons of the
4th Baron Oranmore and Browne and his second wife,
Oonagh
Oona is a feminine given name. It is an Anglicisation of the Irish-language name ''Úna''. Apart from in Ireland, it is also a popular name in Finland.
People with the name Oona
*Oona Brown (born 2004), American ice dancer
*Oona Chaplin (born 198 ...
, daughter of
The Hon. Ernest Guinness
Arthur Ernest Guinness (2 November 1876 – 22 March 1949) was an Irish engineer and a senior member of the Guinness family. He usually went by the name of Ernest.
Family
Ernest was the second son of brewing magnate Edward Guinness, 1st Earl o ...
, the second son of the
1st Earl of Iveagh. Oonagh was a wealthy heiress to the Guinness fortune and the youngest of the three "Golden Guinness Girls". Garech's father, Lord Oranmore and Browne, had the rare distinction of sitting in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
for 72 years, until his death at the age of 100 in August 2002, without ever speaking in a debate.
As both his parents were married three times, Garech had two stepmothers and two stepfathers, as well as a number of older half-siblings. His only full brother, The Hon.
Tara Browne
Tara Browne (4 March 1945 – 18 December 1966) was a London-based Irish socialite and heir to the Guinness fortune. His December 1966 death in a car crash was an inspiration for the Beatles' song " A Day in the Life".
Early life
Browne was ...
, was a young London socialite whose death at the age of 21 in a car crash in
London's West End
The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...
helped inspire
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
when writing the song "
A Day in the Life" with
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
. Garech was educated at
Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey (), commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a private boarding school in Rolle, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Paul-Émile Carnal on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey in the town of Rolle in the canto ...
, Switzerland. Although a member of the extended
Guinness family
The Guinness family is an extensive Irish family known for its accomplishments in brewing, banking, politics, and religious ministry. The brewing branch is particularly well known among the general public for producing the dry stout Guinnes ...
, he took no active part in its brewing business.
When in Ireland, Browne lived at
Luggala
Luggala (), also called Fancy Mountain () at , is the 230th-highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin scale. Being below , it does not rank on the Vandeleur-Lynam or Hewitt scales. Luggala is in the northeastern section of the Wicklow Mounta ...
, set deep in the
Wicklow Mountains
The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Wh ...
in
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...
. The house, which he inherited from his mother, has been variously described as a castle or hunting lodge of large proportions. In 2008, there was a major theft of silver and rare books from Luggala; previously, Browne had appointed as an adviser on the restoration of Luggala the architectural historian "Count" Randal MacDonnell, who called himself "The MacDonnell of the Glens" and formerly "Baron Randal MacDonnell of the Isles", a well-known eccentric fantasist. While MacDonnell was there, Browne noticed "the disappearance from the house of items of Georgian silver and other valuable chattels", resulting in a "blistering row" and MacDonnell's escape from what was called the "silver teapot affair" to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
.
A 2012 book, ''Luggala Days'', by Robert O'Byrne details both the history of Luggala and of Garech's life.
Browne once stated he would rather have not been born, calling it "frightful to bring anyone into this world".
Traditional Irish music
Browne had been a leading proponent for the revival and preservation of
traditional Irish music
Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there w ...
, through his record label
Claddagh Records
Claddagh Records is a record label, based in Dublin's Temple Bar area, was founded in 1959 by Garech Browne and Ivor Browne. It specialises in Irish traditional music and spoken word. Garech had been taking lessons at the time from the master p ...
which he founded with others in 1959. His former home, Woodtown Manor near Dublin, was for many years a welcoming place for Irish poets, writers and musicians. The folk-pop group
Clannad
Clannad () is an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal by siblings Ciarán, Pól, and Moya Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan. They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history, including ...
made many recordings of their music there.
Garech was instrumental in the formation of the traditional Irish folk group
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...
. In 1962, after setting up
Claddagh Records
Claddagh Records is a record label, based in Dublin's Temple Bar area, was founded in 1959 by Garech Browne and Ivor Browne. It specialises in Irish traditional music and spoken word. Garech had been taking lessons at the time from the master p ...
, he asked his friend, the famed
uileann piper Paddy Moloney
Paddy Moloney ( ga, Pádraig Ó Maoldomhnaigh; 1 August 1938 – 12 October 2021) was an Irish musician, composer, and record producer. He co-founded and led the Irish musical group the Chieftains, playing on all of their 44 albums. He was parti ...
, to form a group for a one-off album. Moloney responded with the first line-up for the band, which went on to achieve international commercial success.
He was interviewed at length for the ''Grace Notes'' traditional music programme on
RTÉ lyric fm
RTÉ Lyric FM (stylised as RTÉ lyric fm) is an Irish classical-music and arts radio station, owned and operated by RTÉ. The station, which is based in Limerick, was launched in 1999 and is available on FM throughout Ireland (in some areas a ...
on 18 March 2010.
Art patron
![Garech Browne by Reginald Gray](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Garech_Browne_by_Reginald_Gray.jpg)
Garech was a friend and patron of the artist
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
, and in January 2017 was featured in the BBC documentary ''Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence.''
Marriage
In 1981, Browne married HH Princess Harshad Purna Devi Jadeja of Morvi in Bombay (now Mumbai).
[''Irish Independent'' 16 September 2018] Purna was the only child of HH Sri Mahendra Sinhji,
Maharaja of Morvi (1918-57) and his wife HH The Maharani Sri Vijay Kuverba
Death
Browne died in London, on 10 March 2018, aged 78.
In his
will and testament
A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...
, he bequeathed to the city of
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
the granite remains of a medieval "bow gate." The location of this gate, which had otherwise gone unmentioned by Browne, remained a mystery for over a year following his death. It was discovered on the grounds of the Luggala estate in 2019. According to a Galway historian, the gate may have formed part of the city's defences in the 17th century, and was later removed from the city by Browne's direct ancestor and nobleman of Galway,
Lord Oranmore and Browne, when it was probably taken to the Browne family home at Castle MacGarrett, just outside
Claremorris
Claremorris (; ) is a town in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, at the junction of the N17 and the N60 national routes. It is the fastest growing town in the county. There was a 31% increase in the town's population between 2006 and 2011 an ...
in
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...
. Their mid-1600s ancestor
Geoffrey Browne (MP) (d. 1668) may well have bought the gateway from the city. The gate was one of a number of items left to the Irish State by Browne; another item was his collection of carriages.
In 2022 his library of 20,000 books and manuscripts was placed by his family on a long-term loan to the OPW at
Farmleigh
Farmleigh is the official Irish state guest house. It was formerly one of the Dublin residences of the Guinness family. It is situated on an elevated position above the River Liffey to the north-west of the Phoenix Park, in Castleknock. The ...
.
Portraits
Portraits of Garech and photos of Luggala were published by
''Vanity Fair'' in January 2008.
A portrait of Browne as a boy, painted at Luggala by
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...
, was sold in March 2019 for €6.7m.
See also
*
The Tribes of Galway
The Tribes of Galway ( ga, Treibheanna na Gaillimhe) were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Garech
1939 births
2018 deaths
Irish socialites
Garech Browne
Garech Domnagh Browne (25 June 1939 – 10 March 2018) was an Irish art collector and a notable patron of Irish arts, traditional Irish music in particular. He was often known by the Irish designation of his name, Garech de Brún, or alternative ...
Alumni of Institut Le Rosey
Younger sons of barons
People from County Dublin
People from County Wicklow