Ancestors

Benjamin Hayward Browne

Benjamin Hayward Browne was the son of Richard Browne, a Doctor of Physic of Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire, who later lived at Hale End in Walthamstow, Essex. He was very probably the Benjamin baptized at Minchinhampton on 26 October 1774, a twin, the son of Richard and Martha Browne. His twin sister Eleanor died five weeks later. An elder brother of the same name had died in infancy in 1767. His other brother Joseph became a clothier at Rodborough, and his sister Ann was still unmarried in 1805.

Like his father he became a doctor of medicine. He was also a Physician to the Forces. That was a staff rank in the army's medical service: a physician attached to the military hospitals, senior to the surgeons who served with regiments. He was already styled "physician to the forces" when he married in 1810.

In March 1810 he married Eliza Selina Irwin at Cheltenham. The Gentleman's Magazine announced it among that month's marriages: "At Cheltenham, Benj. Hayward Browne, esq. physician to the forces, to Eliza-Selina, eldest daughter of Eyles Irwin, esq. of county Fermanagh." Her father was a retired servant of the East India Company, known for his book about a voyage up the Red Sea.

The couple settled at a house called Belle Vue, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. Their children were christened at Stroud: Louisa Constantia in August 1815, Benjamin Hayward Hudleston in June 1817 and Eugenia Cicely in May 1825. An elder daughter, Honoria Lucy, was born about 1814. In January 1828 a son, Francis Nicholas Irwin Browne, was baptized in Paris, so the family spent some time in France in the late 1820s.

His father had died in 1806. His will left Benjamin the income of a fund of money and property for life, with the capital to pass to Benjamin's children after him.

He died at Belle Vue on 26 April 1832. The Gentleman's Magazine recorded it under Gloucestershire: "At Belle Vue, near Stroud, Benj. H. Browne, esq. M.D. late Physician to the Forces." The Hereford Journal carried a notice on 2 May. He was buried at Painswick. A later index of the burial gives his full name as Benjamin Hayward Huddelston Browne and his birth as 1775. His will, as "Doctor of Physic, Doctor of Medicine of Painswick", was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 30 July 1832.

His widow lived until 1850. In 1841 his daughter Louisa Constantia married the Rev. William Harris Roach, curate of Painswick, and the notice described her as the daughter "of the late B. H. Browne, D.M., of Belle Vue, Gloucestershire."

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Cite: Heirology, "Benjamin Hayward Browne (1774-1832)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/benjamin-hayward-browne-1774-1832-92af6e.