Philip Browne

Thomas Drew Beavan (q.v.) was awarded the compensation for 1/6th of the Morant estate in St Thomas-in-the-East Jamaica as trustee of Philip Browne. The 1/6th interest of Philip Browne was subject to an apparently unsuccessful counterclaim by the London bankers Price Marryat (q.v.) as judgement creditors.

1. Philip Browne appears to have been resident in Jamaica at least in the 1830s. The correspondence of Henry Lord Willoughby de Broke includes a letter from Philip Browne Morant Estate dated 26/01/1834 containing 'General and naval news'.

2. In April 1836, Philip Browne of Morant Estate was fined £5 for the assault and flogging of the child of his apprentice Brunetta M’Kenzie, 40 shillings for imprisoning the child, and £4 for tying the child by the leg.

3. The 1839 Jamaica Almanac shows Philip Browne as a vestryman in St Thomas-in-the-East and Philip Browne RN as Harbourmaster for Port Morant. There is a strong naval and military thread running through the various awardees for St Thomas No. 507, as well as Irish linkages, but the unifying theme has not yet been established.

We are grateful to Steven Carter for his assistance in compiling this entry.

1. Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Verney (Lords Willoughby de Broke) of Compton Verney DR 98/1655/54.

2. Special Magistrates’ Report. Parliamentary Papers 1836:v.48, p. 373. Available online at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044106544885.

3. 1839 Jamaica Almanac.