John Browne (1696–1750) of Forston,

Charminster Charminster is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated on the River Cerne and A352 road north of the county town Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,940 and also contains the hamlet of Charl ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, and

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, was an English lawyer and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1750. Browne was baptized on 24 December 1696, the second son of Robert Browne of Frampton and Forston, and his wife Frances Browne, daughter of Robert Browne of Blandford St Mary, Dorset. He was younger brother of Robert Browne. He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford on 1 June 1715, aged 18, and was admitted at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1715. He was called to the bar in 1722 and was admitted at Lincolns Inn in 1733. He was standing counsel to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and became King's Counsel in February 1736. At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

, Browne was returned unopposed as Tory

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Dorchester on his family's interest. He voted against the Administration in all recorded divisions. He was returned in a contest at the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

. He spoke in favour of the seamen's bill in January 1741 and was one of the Tories who withdrew on the motion for the removal of Walpole in February 1741. He was returned unopposed at the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

. He followed Pitt and Lyttleton in walking out of the House on 29 February 1744 during Lord Barrington's speech to defer the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act against the threatened French invasion. He became Recorder of Dorchester in 1747 and at the

1747 British general election The 1747 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw Henr ...

was returned unopposed again for Dorchester. Browne died unmarried on 25 April 1750.

References

1696 births 1750 deaths Politicians from Dorset Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub