Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne

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The Lord Oranmore and Browne
Browne in 1920
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
30 June 1927 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 3rd Baron Oranmore and Browne
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born
Dominick Geoffrey Edward Browne

(1901-10-21)21 October 1901
Dublin, Ireland
Died7 August 2002(2002-08-07) (aged 100)
Westminster, England
Spouses
Mildred Egerton
(m. 1925; div. 1936)
(m. 1936; div. 1950)
(m. 1951)
Children8, including:
Dominick Browne, 5th Baron Oranmore and Browne
Garech Browne
Tara Browne
Parent(s)Geoffrey Browne, 3rd Baron Oranmore and Browne
Olwen Verena Ponsonby

Dominick Geoffrey Edward Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, 2nd Baron Mereworth (21 October 1901 – 7 August 2002), was a British peer and legislator.

Biography

He was born into an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family as the Hon. Dominick Geoffrey Edward Browne in 1901, the eldest son of the 3rd Baron Oranmore and Browne and Lady Olwen Verena Ponsonby, daughter of the 8th Earl of Bessborough. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, before joining the Grenadier Guards, serving 1921–1922 as a second lieutenant.[1]

In 1927, he succeeded his father and took his seat in the

Baron Mereworth, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (the older barony of Oranmore and Browne, in the Peerage of Ireland
, did not entitle its bearer to a seat in the Lords), although he primarily used his Irish title. He sat in the House of Lords for 72 years, the longest by any peer up to that time, and during that time was one of the few peers to have never spoken in the House.

In 1930, the English residence of the Browne family, Mereworth Castle, was sold and he went to live in his Irish residence, Castle MacGarrett, just outside Claremorris in County Mayo. Castle MacGarrett, its 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) and 150 employees gave him the chance to breed racehorses and farm on a large scale. Lord Oranmore and Browne was also an aviator.[2]

In 1939, Oranmore and Browne tried to rejoin the British Army, but he was told that, at 38, he would be more useful concentrating on farming; as a result, his war service was in neutral Ireland with the Irish reserve force, the Local Defence Force, in County Mayo.

In the early 1950s, the castle was acquired by the Irish Government's Irish Land Commission and turned into a nursing home. Lord Oranmore and Browne went to live in London.

Personal life

Lord Oranmore and Browne married three times :

Lord Oranmore and Browne died in London on 7 August 2002 at the age of 100.[4]

References

  1. .
  2. ^ Christopher Wood Archived 12 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Mildred Helen Browne".
  4. ^ "Lord Oranmore and Browne". The Herald. 14 August 2002. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Baron Oranmore and Browne
1927–2002
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Baron Mereworth
1927–2002
Member of the House of Lords

(1927–1999)
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Longest-serving member in the House of Lords
1993–1999
Succeeded by

External links

Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne at Find a Grave