Valentine Browne, 3rd Viscount Kenmare

Sir Valentine Browne, 5th Baronet and 3rd Viscount Kenmare in the Jacobite Peerage (1695–1736)

For other people named Valentine Browne, see Valentine Browne (disambiguation).

Valentine Browne
Viscount Kenmare
Tenure1720–1736
PredecessorValentine, 2nd Viscount
SuccessorThomas, 4th Viscount
BornMarch 1695
Died30 June 1736
Spouse(s)Honora Butler
Issue
Detail		Thomas & others
FatherValentine, 2nd Viscount
MotherHelen Browne

Birth and origins

Valentine was the son of Nicholas Browne and his wife, Helen Browne. His father was the 2nd Viscount Kenmare. His mother was his father's cousin, being the eldest daughter of Thomas Browne of Hospital, County Limerick.

Family tree
Valentine Browne with his two wives, his parents, and other selected relatives.[lower-alpha 1]
Valentine
1st Viscount
1638–1694		Jane
Plunkett
Nicholas
2nd Viscount
d. 1720		Helen
Browne
Honora
Butler		Valentine
3rd Viscount
1695–1736		Mary
FitzGerald
Thomas
4th Viscount
1726–1795		Anne
Cooke
Valentine
1st Earl
1754–1812		Charlotte
Dillon
1755-1782
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article		XXXViscounts &
Earls of Kenmare

Early life

After the death of his father in 1720, he succeeded to the family estates which had been under the management of John Asgill because his grandfather Sir Valentine Browne was a supporter of the Jacobite cause who took part in the Battle of Aughrim. For this he was attainted and the family estates forfeited.

The inheritance to which he succeeded was deep in debt due to mismanagement by Asgill. The difficulty experienced in meeting the heavy encumbrances on the impoverished estate fostered disputes in the family and drove close relatives into law with each other, much of which was both protracted and costly.

The exact status of Browne as either a Baronet or Viscount is disputable. He was unambiguously a baronet. The Viscountcy of Kenmare was created by James II in the Peerage of Ireland after his deposition as King of England, but before his deposition from the Irish throne. The peerage may be regarded as legitimate beyond Jacobites, but the Protestant establishment of the day did not recognise it.[3]

First marriage and children

Valentine Browne married, firstly, Honora Butler, daughter of Colonel Thomas Butler and his wife Margaret Bourke, in November 1720. Egan O'Rahilly wrote an Irish poem, called the epithalamium, for the wedding.[4]

Valentine and Honora had a son:

Honora Butler died of smallpox in 1730.

Second marriage and children

He married, secondly, Mary FitzGerald, daughter of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, in October 1735.

Valentine and Mary had a daughter.

Late life and death

It is possible that his financial difficulties caused him to refuse the requests of the poet Egan O'Rahilly to restore his land to him. This refusal caused O'Rahilly to compose a bitter and mournful poem called "Valentin Brown"[5] in which he launches a vitriolic attack on the viscount.

In later years, however, the estate gained a sound financial position after portions of it were sold. Sir Valentine died on 30 June 1736, aged 41.

Poem

Egan O'Rahilly's poem "Valentin Brown", translated by Frank O'Connor, reads:

That my old bitter heart was pierced in this black doom,
That foreign devils have made our land a tomb,
That the sun that was Munster's glory has gone down
Has made me a beggar before you, Valentine Brown

That royal Cashel is bare of house and guest,
That Brian's turreted home is the otter's nest,
That the kings of the land have neither land nor crown
Has made me a beggar before you, Valentine Brown.

Garnish away in the west with its master banned,
Hamburg the refuge of him who has lost his land,
An old grey eye, weeping for lost renown,
Have made me a beggar before you, Valentine Brown.

Notes and references

Notes
  1. This family tree is based on genealogies of the baronets, viscounts and earls Browne[1][2]

Citations
  1. Cokayne 1900, pp. 236–237Genealogy of the baronets Browne
  2. Lodge 1789, p. 51–58Genealogy of the baronets Browne
  3. Cokayne 1887, p. 60. "Such Irish peerages however as were cr. by James II in 1689, at a time when he was in full possession of all his Regal Rights as King of Ireland, all of which creations, moreover, were duly enrolled on the Patent Rolls of that Kingdom, from which they has never been erased—stand in a very different category from other Peerages cr. by that King since his (so-called) 'abdication' ..."
  4. Dinneen 1909, p. 173. "Epithalamium for Lord Kenmare"
  5. Dinneen 1909, p. 31. "Valentin Browne"

Sources
  • Public Record office of Northern Ireland, Kenmare papers
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