George Samuel Browne, 8th Viscount Montagu (26 June 1769 – October 1793) was an English

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...

. While traveling in Europe with his friend Charles Sedley Burdett (second son of

Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent (in advance of the Chartists) of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vo ...

), the two became obstinately determined to ride a fishing boat over the rapids of the Rhine at Laufenburg, despite the warnings of the local inhabitants, none of whom could be hired or persuaded to help them. They died in the attempt, and he was succeeded in the viscountcy by a distant cousin, a

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. In the same week that the unfortunate Viscount met his death, the family home of

Cowdray House Cowdray House consists of the ruins of one of England's great Tudor houses, architecturally comparable to many of the great palaces and country houses of that time. It is situated in the Parish of Easebourne, just east of Midhurst, West Sussex s ...

was destroyed by fire; a circumstance which provided the foundation for a factitious legend of a "curse of fire and water" upon the Browne family for having received

Battle Abbey Battle Abbey is a partially ruined Benedictine abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St Martin of Tours. It is a Scheduled Monument. The Grade I listed site is now op ...

at the dissolution of the monasteries. His sister, Elizabeth Mary, who was the eventual Browne heir in 1797, married, on 1 September 1794,

William Stephen Poyntz William Stephen Poyntz (20 January 1770 – 8 April 1840) was an English Whig and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1800 and 1837. Early life Poyntz was the son of William Poyntz of Midgham (d.1809) by his w ...

. They lived at Midgham House in Berkshire and at Cowdray; as per the myth both their sons drowned at nearby

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns ...

on 7 July 1815. As a result, the estate a generation later was sold by the surviving daughters mostly to

George Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont Admiral George James Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont (14 March 1794 – 2 August 1874), known as the Lord Arden between 1840 and 1841, was a British naval commander and Tory politician. Background Egmont was the third but eldest surviving son of C ...

, and perhaps to

Lord Leconfield Baron Leconfield, of Leconfield in the East Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1859 for Col. George Wyndham (1787–1869). He was the eldest illegitimate son and adopted heir of Geo ...

, with Cowdray passing in 1908 to

Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, (15 July 1856 – 1 May 1927), known as Sir Weetman Pearson, Bt between 1894 and 1910, and as Lord Cowdray between 1910 and 1917, was a British engineer, oil industrialist, benefactor and Libe ...

References

1769 births 1793 deaths English Christians

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

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