Walter Raleigh Browne (1842 – 4 September 1884) was an English

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

writer."Walter Raleigh Browne"
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History.

Career

He attended Trinity College, Cambridge in 1861. After graduating he became a fellow of the college in 1867. In 1874 he became the Director of Bridgewater Engineering Company. He devoted much time to the theory of mechanics and wrote many articles and papers. He worked as Secretary for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers but later resigned from this position."Walter Raleigh Browne (1842-1884)"
The National Archives. He was a member of many societies including the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squar ...

Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered Charitable organization, charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to ...

, Physical Society of London and the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. He was a Christian and member of the

Christian Evidence Society The Christian Evidence Society is a British Christian apologetics organisation that was founded in 1870. At its financial peak in 1883, it had slightly over 400 paying members, but that it had declined to below 300 by 1897. After 1900, its focus s ...

. He was an original council member of the Society for Psychical Research and took interest in metaphysics. On 27 and 28 April 1876 he debated the atheist Charles Bradlaugh at Victoria Hall, Leeds on the topic of miracles. His book ''The Inspiration of the New Testament'' (1880) was endorsed by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. He translated the second edition of Rudolf Clausius’ German physics textbook ''The Mechanical Theory of Heat'' in 1879. In August 1884 he went to Canada with his wife to attend a meeting for the British Association. After he arrived in Montreal he became ill and suffered from typhoid fever. He was taken to hospital but died on 4 September. His son was

Barwick Sharpe Browne Lieutenant-Colonel Barwick Sharpe Browne (1881 - 27 August 1963) was a British Army officer, the first librarian of the Institute of Archaeology (1936–38), and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Early life Barwick Sharpe Browne w ...

. File:Clausius-2-1.jpg, 1879 edition of Rudolf Clausius' ''"The Mechanical Theory of Heat,"'' translated to English by Browne File:Clausius-2-2.jpg, Title page of a 1879 edition of Rudolf Clausius' ''"The Mechanical Theory of Heat,"'' translated to English by Browne

Publications

*''Can Miracles Be Proved Possible?: Verbatim Report of the Two Nights Public Debate Between Messrs. C. Bradlaugh & W. R. Browne ... Leeds, on April 27th and 28th'' (1876)
''The Inspiration of the New Testament''
(1880) *''The Foundations of Mechanics'' (1882)
''The Student's Mechanics''
(1883)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Walter R 1842 births 1884 deaths British Christians Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English civil engineers British parapsychologists