Sir John Browne, of Swineshead

Not the same as Sir John Browne, Lord Mayor of London who married Ann Browne

Sir John Browne, Knight

• Birth: 1435, in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England.
• Death: after 6 Jul 1483.
• Marriage: Alice Swineshead in 1459 in Swineshead, Leicestershire, England 679

John married Alice Swineshead, daughter of William Swineshead and Unknown, in 1459 in Swineshead, Leicestershire, England.679 (Alice Swineshead was born in 1440 in Swineshead, Leicestershire, England.)

Children:

1. Robert Browne, esquire, Chamberlain of the Exchequer, who married Isabel, daughter and heir of Sir John Sharpe, knight. ~A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies . . ., p. 89

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Disputed origins

• Seen as "Viscount of Montague" but the peerage of Montagu began a century later, with Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu KG (1528–1592) son of Sir Anthony Browne.
• Seen as son of Sir Thomas Browne, Sheriff of Kent & his wife Eleanore Fitzalan, but they did not have a son called John. [See Wikipedia.]
• Was he the son of John Browne, of Okeham? This John Browne's son Robert was "of" Northamptonshire, and seemed to claim a Rutland origin. See https://cybergata.com/roots/8073.htm

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Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Browne-195#Notes_on_Identities_of_Two...

This John Browne is not the same person as the Lord Mayor of London in 1480, because that person, as proved by his will, was married only once, to Anne of Belwood, and he was from Lowyk, Northumberland. The will is clear, but was not considered when subsequent secondary sources seem to have conflated two different men who were knights named John Browne.

Notes on Identities of Two John Brownes

From Notes and Queries, Contributor: William White, Publisher: Oxford University Press, January to June 1888, database online at Google Books, Seventh Series, Vol V, pages 151 - 153. < GoogleBooks >

From the foregoing it will be seen that Sir John Browne's wife was Ann Belwood and that there is no indication of his having had a first wife Alice Swinstead and by her a son Robert He desires prayers to be said for the repose of the soul of his late son Richard surely he would have done the same for a late wife The Harleian MS 1541 folio 135b has a Browne pedigree in which Sir John's ancestor is stated to be Sir Anthony Browne Knight of the Bath to Henry IV He is given two wives Alice Swinstead and Ann Belwood from the former of whom the Brownes of Walcot are made to spring from the latter the Sir William Lord Mayor 1507 instead of 1513 as I have proved This MS has long puzzled me If there is any truth in it we have at once the Montagu Brownes of Beechworth Castle Surrey established as being of the same stock as those of whom I am writing ...

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The following was sent by Rosie Bevan concerning the two John Browne's which there is a mix up.

"The confusion of the identity of Sir John Browne may have come about because there were two Sir John Brownes knighted within 2 1/2 years of each other.

John Browne of London was knighted on 6th January 1485/86 being one of the "Knights of London made, 12th day anno primo Henry VII, the King keeping his estate at Whitehall being crowned". Also Knighted at the same time were Henry Collett, Mayor of London, John Fenkell, William Capell and Nicholas Billesdon. ( Shaw's "Knights of England" (1906) 1971}.

John Browne of Stamford, Lincolnshire, was summoned on 25th June 1483 to the coronation of Edward V to take place on 22nd June but which did not take place as Edward was deposed. He was recalled to the coronation of Richard III which took place on 6th July 1493, and he was knighted then.

It is possible that it was Sir John Browne of Stamford who was married to Alice, daughter of William Swineshead of Swineshead, Lincolnshire. It is not far from Stamford. That the Browne name subsequently became connected with Swineshead and Donington, two former locations of property holdings of the Swineshead family, it is apparent from a number of records in the PRO.

General Notes:

(has errors)

https://cybergata.com/roots/3310.htm

~The Blackmans of Knight's Creek, Henry James Young, Carlise, PA, 1980, p. 80
~The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, John Bridges, Oxford, T. Payne, 1791, 2:497

bullet Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. 535
Sir John Browne, knight, Lord Mayor of London in 1480, married first, Alice, daughter and heir of William Swineshed, and secondly, Anne Betwooe. By the latter he left a son, Sir William, Lord Mayor of London in 1597, and by the former wife, a successor, Robert Browne, Chamberlain of the Exchequer.
~A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies . . ., p. 89

• Background Information. 679
Sir John Browne, alias John de Werkes, of the Company of Mercers, served the office of Lord Mayor of London in 1480, and was the son of John Browne of Oakham, Rutland. His first wife being Alice, daughter and heiress of William de Swineshed. His second wife was Anne Betwood. By his second wife, he had a son, Sir William, Lord Mayor of London in 1507. With his first wife, he had a son, Robert, Chancellor of the exchequer, who married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir John Sharpe, knight.
~The Reliquary, Vol. 17, p. 202

• Background Information. 678
"Sir John Browne, otherwise called John de Werkes mercer, shrive of London, 1472 and Mayor of the same, 1481, he dwelled in Mylkestreet over against the Church where he Lyeth buryed."
~The Visitation of Essex, p. 164

References

1. https://cybergata.com/roots/3310.htm
2. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LTN5-X1Y/john-browne-1498
3. WikiTree contributors, "John Browne (1449-1498)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Browne-195 : accessed 20 July 2024). cites
   1. The visitations of Northamptonshire made in 1564 and 1618-19 with Northamptonshire pedigrees from various Harleian mss, page 167 (not this John Browne)
   2. Notes and Queries, Contributor: William White, Publisher: Oxford University Press, January to June 1888, database online at Google Books, Seventh Series, Vol V, pages 151 - 153. < GoogleBooks >
4. https://www.swinesheadhistory.com/swineshead-village-history.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swineshead,_Lincolnshire Not to be confused with Swineshead, Bedfordshire. Swineshead. Swineshead is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston in Lincolnshire, England. It is 7 miles (11 km) west of the town of Boston.
6. https://europeanheraldry.org/united-kingdom/families/families-b/hou...
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne_%28died_1460%29
8. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~hwbradley/genealogy/aqwg235.htm#37204 cites
   1. Young, Henry James, The Blackmans of Knight's Creek (Carlisle, PA : H. J. Young, 1980.), p. 81, Family History Library, 929.273
   2. Bridges, John, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire (Oxford: T. Payne, 1791.), 2:497, Family History Library, 942.55 H2br.
   3. Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977.), p. 89, Family History Library, 942 D22bu 1977.
   4. Metcalfe, Walter Charles, The Visitations of Northamptonshire made in 1564 and 1618-19 (London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1887.), p. 167, Los Angeles Public Library, 929.726 M588.