William Joseph Browne, (May 3, 1897 – January 10, 1989) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer, judge and politician. He served in the

Newfoundland House of Assembly The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It meets in the Confederation Building in St. Jo ...

and the

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. The son of Liberius Browne and Bridget O'Reilly, he was born in St. John's,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and was educated at Holy Cross School,

Saint Bonaventure's College St. Bonaventure's College (commonly called St. Bon's) is an independent kindergarten to grade 12 Catholic School in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is located in the St. John's Ecclesiastical District, adjacent to the Roman Cat ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, the

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and

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. Browne was called to the bars of both England and Newfoundland in 1922 and practised law in Newfoundland. Browne ran unsuccessfully for the Placentia-St. Mary's seat in the Newfoundland assembly in 1923. He was elected for St. John's West in 1924 and defeated when he ran for reelection in 1928. He was elected to the assembly again in 1932 for Harbour Main-Bell Island and so was a member of the last

in 1933 when the

Commission of Government The Commission of Government was a non-elected body that governed the Dominion of Newfoundland from 1934 to 1949. Established following the collapse of Newfoundland's economy during the Great Depression, it was dissolved when the dominion became ...

took over governing Newfoundland. He was a cabinet minister in the government of Frederick C. Alderdice, first serving as a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

and then as Minister of Finance and Customs and Minister of Justice. In 1934, he was named

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. From 1934 to 1939, Browne was a judge in the Central District Court. In

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of St. John's West. A Progressive Conservative, he was defeated in the 1953 federal election. He was elected again to the House of Assembly in 1954. He was re-elected to the House of Commons in the

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

elections. He was defeated in the 1962 election and again in the 1965 election. From 1957 to 1960, he was a

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in the cabinet of

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

. From 1960 to 1962, he was the

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. He retired from politics in 1962 and returned to the practice of law. In 1981, he published his biography, ''Eighty-four years a Newfoundlander: Memoirs of William J. Browne'' (). He was married four times: first to Mary Grace Harris in 1924, to Mary Roche in 1933, to Margaret Fleming (née Buckley) in 1951., and to Dr Norah Elphinstone Renouf in 1970, outliving all his wives except for Norah, who died November 24, 2010. Browne died in St. John's at the age of 91. There is a William Joseph Browne

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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, William Joseph 1897 births 1989 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly Politicians from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Solicitors General of Canada Canadian King's Counsel Dominion of Newfoundland judges Government ministers of the Dominion of Newfoundland Alumni of Merton College, Oxford