James Browne (died 1677) was a Scottish pirate and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

active in the Caribbean. He is best known for his hasty execution and its effect on colonial

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n government.

History

Jamaican officials had been working to curb rampant privateering in the region since the tenure of Lieutenant Governor (and former buccaneer)

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming wea ...

. To the dismay of English lords eager to find allies in Europe, privateers would regularly abuse their legal commissions to attack shipping of all nations. Using a privateering commission from Governor D’Ogeron of French Tortuga, Browne sailed from Jamaica in October 1676 with a multi-national crew. Early in 1677 he captured the

Dutch West Indies Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ...

slaving ship ''Golden Sun'' off Cartagena, killing several of its officers and crew. That May he reappeared in Jamaica trying to sell slaves to local plantations. Governor Vaughn dispatched a frigate to collect most of the slaves from the planters who had purchased them illicitly. He then wrote to the Governor of Dutch Curacao to warn him of Browne's piracy. The

Jamaican Assembly The House of Assembly was the legislature of the British colony of Jamaica. It held its first meeting on 20 January 1664 at Spanish Town. Cundall, Frank. (1915''Historic Jamaica''.London: Institute of Jamaica. p. 15. As a result of the Morant ...

had passed an act in April 1677 forbidding English subjects from serving foreign governments, and shortly after passed a similar act pardoning all privateers who surrendered within a year. Browne and his crew turned themselves in soon afterwards. Upon inspection, his privateering commission from Tortuga was found to be expired: Governor D’Ogeron had been dead for over a year. They were tried and convicted for piracy. The crew were pardoned but Browne was sentenced to be hanged in July. Browne twice petitioned the Jamaica Assembly for a reprieve so that he could be set free under the terms of the "Act of Privateers". The Assembly tried to intervene for him but Vaughn ordered Brown executed immediately. He argued that setting Browne free would set a bad precedent ("hindering the sentence of execution will be of evil example and bad consequence"); the Assembly countered that “if this execution take place all our privateers which are out may think this Act a snare and possibly make those already in go out again.” The Assembly's Chief Justice Samuel Long and Speaker (and future governor)

William Beeston William Beeston (1606? – 1682) was an English actor and theatre manager, the son and successor to the more famous Christopher Beeston. Early phase William was brought up in the theatrical world of his father; he became an actor, and also his ...

ordered Browne's execution delayed, but Browne had been hanged only minutes earlier: “Half-an-hour after, the Marshal came with an order signed by the Speaker to observe the Chief Justice's

writ of habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

.” Vaughn was incensed with Long and Beeston and dissolved the Jamaican Assembly. He charged both with a series of insubordinations over the Browne privateering affair and sent them back to England to answer for their crimes. English officials not only supported Long and Beeston instead of Vaughn, but removed him from power and installed the

Earl of Carlisle Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. History The first creation came in 1322, when Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay, was made Earl of Carlisle. He had already been summoned to Parliame ...

as governor in his place.Before Carlisle, ex-privateer Henry Morgan was briefly named acting Governor once more. After going through three governors in two years, it took until mid-1679 for Jamaica to repay the Dutch West India Company for the loss of slaves to Browne's piracy, and then only when the

Lords of Trade and Plantations The Lords of Trade and Plantations was a permanent administrative body formed by Charles II in 1675 to provide consistent advice to the Privy Council regarding the management of the growing number of English colonies. It replaced a series of temp ...

forced Carlisle to do so. The following year (1680) Carlisle levied the same charges against Justice Long that Vaughn had, still holding him accountable for the "disorderly" manner in which he had handled Browne's trial.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, James 17th-century pirates Year of birth missing English mass murderers English pirates English privateers Executed mass murderers People executed for piracy 1677 deaths Caribbean pirates

History

See also

References