Denis Browne (politician)
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2015) |
The Right Honourable Denis Browne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Irish House of Commons | |
| In office 1782–1800 | |
| Member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 1800–1826 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1763 |
| Died | 14 August 1828 (aged 64–65) |
Denis Browne (1763 – 14 August 1828) was an Irish politician, landowner and High Sheriff who was notorious for his role in punishing rebels in the 1798 rebellion.
He acquired the nickname "Denis the Rope" or "Donochadli an Rópa" in Irish. This was owing to his zeal in hanging suspected rebels, in addition to assisting in hanging his own godson.[1]
Life
Browne was the second son of two sons and four daughters born to
Browne served as an officer in the
Browne supported Catholic emancipation but would not help the Catholic Committee in organising elections in the county; Wolfe Tone believed this was because Browne was unwilling to lose any influence in his locality.[3] On the other hand, Browne and his brother supported the government, keeping the administration in Dublin well informed of events in Mayo in the years prior to the Irish Rebellion of 1798. In 1795 Browne and his brother Lord Altamount assisted over five hundred Ulster families who fled to Mayo in the wake of disturbances arising from the Battle of the Diamond. All the refugees were carefully questioned to root out any disaffected elements, the families settling on the family estates.[3]
He was appointed High Sheriff of Mayo for 1798, the year of the Irish Rebellion. During this time his home in Claremorris was destroyed by the rebels.
Browne had a well-earned reputation as a feared duelist. While Sheriff, he fought against
Browne's subsequent support for the Acts of Union 1800 failed to gain him a peerage, though his brother was made first Marquess of Sligo. In the following decades he represented Mayo (1800–1818) and Kilkenny City (1820–26), strongly supporting military coercion in Ireland.
Public Opinion in Ireland
Browne was unpopular in Ireland for hanging many Irish rebels and a seeming lack of committee to support Catholic empancipation fully.[4]
He had many nicknames including Denis of the Rope or its Irish language version Donnchadh an Rópa and Soap the Rope Browne. A poem was written about him which Douglas Hyde translated from Irish:[5]
"If I got your hand, it is I would take it,
But not to shake it, O Denis Browne,
But to hang you high with a hempen cable,
And your feet unable to find the ground,
For it's many the boy who was strong and able,
You sent in chains with your tyrant frown;
But they’ll come again, with the French flag waving,
And the French drums raving to strike you down."
Family
He married his cousin Anne Mahon (died 1833) of Castlegar, County Galway, in 1790, having five sons and four daughters. Two of his sons, James and Peter, also served in the commons from the 1820s. He was instrumental in securing the election of his cousin, Dominick Browne, 1st Baron Oranmore and Browne, supposedly encouraging him to fight a duel to gain votes (Martyn, 2001).
His godson was "Johnny the Outlaw"[5]
He died at his home in Claremorris. A portrait of him by
References
- ^ "Local history: Landlords often competed for positions of influence in Mayo". Connaught Telegraph. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- ISBN 9781848408777.
- ^ a b "Browne, Denis | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- ^ Wolfe Tone, Theobald (1792). Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone. pp. 301–309.
- ^ a b Maguire, Samuel J. (1950). "The Galway Reader". The Galway Reader. 2: 91.
- Westport House and the Brownes, Denis Browne, Westport, 1981
- Land and popular politics in Ireland: Co. Mayo from plantation to the land war, Donald Jordan, 1994
- The Tribes of Galway, Adrian James Martyn, Galway, 2001
- Dictionary of Irish Biography, pp. 902–03, Cambridge, 2010