Gilbert Browning (October 19, 1821 – 1882) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born merchant in Newfoundland Colony. He was born in

Newmilns Newmilns is a village in the burgh of Newmilns and Greenholm, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 3,057 people (2001 census) and lies on the A71, around seven miles east of Kilmarnock and twenty-five miles southwest of Glasgow. I ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

and came to Newfoundland after the

Great Fire of 1846 The Great Fire of 1846 occurred in St. John's, Newfoundland, a colony of the United Kingdom on 9 June 1846. The fire started at the shop of a cabinetmaker named Hamlin, located on George Street off Queen Street, when a glue pot boiled over. The fir ...

to help rebuild the premises of Baine, Johnston and Company. Browning set up his own businesses soon afterwards, operating a cod oil refinery,

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

and boat factory. He later set up the firm of G. Browning & Son which operated a bakery. He was also involved in mining. Browning died during a visit to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

for his health. His son Donald served in the Newfoundland assembly. Although the original premises of the company were destroyed by fire, G. Browning & Sons became one of the founding companies of Browning Harvey Limited, a beverage bottling company which is still in operation to this day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Gilbert 1821 births 1852 deaths Newfoundland Colony people