Sylvester John Browne (1841 – 4 August 1915), occasionally referred to as Sylvester John Browne jnr, was a mining magnate, adventurer and sportsman, whose activities spanned practically the whole of Australia. He was a brother of the well-known author Thomas Alexander Browne ("Rolf Boldrewood").
Browne was born in New South Wales in 1841 to Captain Sylvester John Browne (c1790-1864) and Eliza Angell Browne, née Alexander (c. 1813 – 8 November 1899).
In 1830 Captain Sylvester John Browne, at one time a ship master of the East India Company, and his wife emigrated to New South Wales with their first son Thomas aboard the barque Proteus, of which he was owner and commander, first delivering his cargo of convicts to Tasmania.[1] He built a home on the outskirts of Sydney which he named "Newtown House" hence, it has been asserted, the suburb of Newtown.[2]
In 1835 he built the "Enmore" mansion, for which that suburb was named.[3]
In 1840, following the severe drought of 1837–1839, Captain Browne and family moved to "Hartlands", Heidelberg, Victoria.[4]
In 1847, after threatening his son Thomas with a gun,[5] he was declared a dangerous lunatic and committed to an institution.[6]
No later information has been found about Captain Browne; it may be that he died in the asylum.
Browne was born in Heidelberg, Victoria and presumably educated in Victoria but real information has been hard to find. He spent his early years as a grazier in Queensland, holding Sandringham and other properties.[7] He was appointed magistrate in Gympie 1876.[8] He was a commission agent at Hillston, New South Wales in 1884.
Horse racing
The Morphettville Racecourse had been resumed by the mortgagee in 1883 after its operator, the South Australian Jockey Club failed financially following the prohibition of the totalizator. Five years later restrictions on the totalizator were eased and Browne (with some input from T. F. Wigley) purchased the property[9] and leased it, with option to purchase, to the reconstituted Club.
Browne was then involved with the Victorian Racing Club, and to a lesser extent the Victorian Amateur Turf Club. In 1888 he purchased four yearlings: Carrington (which he brought from South Australia), Tinlander, Loch and Hartlands,[10] which he raced with only moderate success, and appears to have quit the game in 1891.
Mining
Browne was a founder and local (Silverton? Adelaide?)[11] director of the Broken Hill Junction Silver Mining Company (Limited) in 1886, and its largest shareholder, with 20,000 £1 shares. He resigned from the board in December 1892, as he had moved to Western Australia.
He was also a director of the Sterling Hill Silver Mining Company (whose chairman was one Henry Browne, relationship not found) in 1887.
He formed a company, of which he owned all but a few of the 24,000 £1 shares, to purchase the Bayley's Reward claim at Coolgardie, Western Australia from its finders Bayley and Ford.[7] At its peak the mine was worth £480,000.[12]
Other interests
Browne was an excellent pigeon shooter and cricketer in his younger days; in later years he was a keen golfer, and he was a prime mover behind the Royal Melbourne Golf Club's acquisition of its course at Sandringham.[13]
Browne died suddenly at "Garomna", a property he had recently purchased near Cloncurry, Queensland.
Family
Captain Sylvester John Browne (years of birth and death not known) was married to Eliza Angell Browne , née Alexander (c. 1813 – 8 November 1899);[14]
Thomas Alexander Browne (1826–1915) married Margaret Maria Riley (died 8 September 1917) in 1860.
Rose Christiana Angell Browne (1862–1935) author (as "Rose Boldrewood") of two novels
Everard Browne (1864 – May 1926) married Muffle Chirnside of Werribee Park, Victoria.[15] He was associated with his uncle Sylvester's mining ventures.[16]
Emma Margaret Browne married E. Henry Street on 1 June 1892. He was the third son of John Rendell Street MP of East Sydney and brother of Sir Philip Whistler Street (1863–1938).
T(homas) Valentine Browne ( – 6 October 1909), metallurgist, assistant to his uncle Sylvester at Bayley's Reward gold mine.
Emily Louisa Browne married Robert Silvers Black on 11 June 1903
Gerald Macleay Browne, mining engineer, married Olive Isabel Smith on 22 May 1900. She was a daughter of Sir Gerard Smith, Governor of W.A.
Emma Browne (c. 1828 – c. 5 March 1905) married Molesworth Greene of "Greystones", Bacchus Marsh. He was chairman of directors, South Broken Hill.
(Elizabeth) Corientia Browne (c. 1828 – 10 October 1875)[17] married William Walker, of "Redleaf", Double Bay in 1845; first Commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.
fourth daughter Eliza Alexander Browne (1833 – 5 September 1910)[18]
fifth daughter Constance Browne (5 June 1837 – 23 August 1919) married James Tobin Cockshott (died 1867) of South Yarra, Victoria on 7 June 1860[3]
Harold Murray Cockshott (died 1940), barrister
Lucy Forest Browne (1839 – 1913) married Frederick Darley (later Sir Frederick, Chief Justice of New South Wales) in Hunsdon, England on 13 December 1860.[19] They had a summer residence Lilianfels, Katoomba.[20]
Sylvester John "Vessie" Browne (1841–1915) married Anna Catherine Stawell, eldest daughter of Sir William Stawell, on 17 October 1889.[21]
(Sylvester) Ulick Browne (4 September 1890 – 11 November 1964) born in Adelaide, married Monica Frances Little on 2 April 1918. He contested the seat of Kennedy in 1952, died in Ensay, Victoria.
On a wreath of the colours a lizard statant Vert debruised with a baton sinister Argent.
Escutcheon
Argent two lions rampant combatant supporting a dexter hand couped at the wrist all Gules in base a boat with oars in action Sable the whole within a bordure wavy of the second.
Motto
Fortuna Favet Fortibus
References
^"Mr. T. Alexander Browne". Table Talk. No. 246. Victoria, Australia. 7 March 1890. p. 5. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"Mr. Sylvester Browne". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 24, 204. New South Wales, Australia. 5 August 1915. p. 6. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"The Late Mrs. Cockshott". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 25, 472. New South Wales, Australia. 26 August 1919. p. 8. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Death of Rolf Boldrewood". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXX, no. 21, 321. South Australia. 12 March 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Local Intelligence". The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser. Vol. X, no. 1, 234. Victoria, Australia. 27 January 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Domestic Intelligence". The Argus (Melbourne). Vol. I, no. 73. Victoria, Australia. 2 February 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"Death of Mr. Sylvester Browne". The Australasian. Vol. XCIX, no. 2, 575. Victoria, Australia. 7 August 1915. p. 39. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^""Commission of the Peace". The Queenslander. Vol. X, no. 21. Queensland, Australia. 8 January 1876. p. 27. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Sporting Notes". Adelaide Observer. Vol. XLVI, no. 2498. South Australia. 17 August 1889. p. 17. Retrieved 17 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Turf Gossip". The Australasian. Vol. XLV, no. 1163. Victoria, Australia. 14 July 1888. p. 25. Retrieved 17 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Broken Hill Junction Property Jumped". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. XXIV, no. 6, 937. South Australia. 4 February 1887. p. 3. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"The Last of Bayley's, the Find that Made Westralia Famous". Truth (Perth newspaper). No. 202. Western Australia. 27 April 1907. p. 8. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Mr. Sylvester Browne". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 21, 536. Victoria, Australia. 5 August 1915. p. 6. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 13, 538. Victoria, Australia. 12 November 1889. p. 1. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Personal". The Daily News (Perth). Vol. XLV, no. 15, 938. Western Australia. 27 May 1926. p. 5. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Personal". Cootamundra Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 21 May 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LXXII, no. 11, 718. New South Wales, Australia. 9 December 1875. p. 1. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 9758. New South Wales, Australia. 6 September 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 4, 591. Victoria, Australia. 18 February 1861. p. 4. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"The Late Lady Darley". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 23, 477. New South Wales, Australia. 9 April 1913. p. 16. Retrieved 12 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 16, 130. New South Wales, Australia. 5 December 1889. p. 1. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XLVI, no. 763[?]. New South Wales, Australia. 21 November 1862. p. 1. Retrieved 13 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. H,". National Library of Ireland. p. 384. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
February 13, 2023
sylvester, john, browne, 1841, august, 1915, occasionally, referred, mining, magnate, adventurer, sportsman, whose, activities, spanned, practically, whole, australia, brother, well, known, author, thomas, alexander, browne, rolf, boldrewood, contents, history. Sylvester John Browne 1841 4 August 1915 occasionally referred to as Sylvester John Browne jnr was a mining magnate adventurer and sportsman whose activities spanned practically the whole of Australia He was a brother of the well known author Thomas Alexander Browne Rolf Boldrewood Contents 1 History 2 Horse racing 3 Mining 4 Other interests 5 Family 6 Arms 7 ReferencesHistory EditBrowne was born in New South Wales in 1841 to Captain Sylvester John Browne c1790 1864 and Eliza Angell Browne nee Alexander c 1813 8 November 1899 In 1830 Captain Sylvester John Browne at one time a ship master of the East India Company and his wife emigrated to New South Wales with their first son Thomas aboard the barque Proteus of which he was owner and commander first delivering his cargo of convicts to Tasmania 1 He built a home on the outskirts of Sydney which he named Newtown House hence it has been asserted the suburb of Newtown 2 In 1835 he built the Enmore mansion for which that suburb was named 3 In 1840 following the severe drought of 1837 1839 Captain Browne and family moved to Hartlands Heidelberg Victoria 4 In 1847 after threatening his son Thomas with a gun 5 he was declared a dangerous lunatic and committed to an institution 6 No later information has been found about Captain Browne it may be that he died in the asylum Browne was born in Heidelberg Victoria and presumably educated in Victoria but real information has been hard to find He spent his early years as a grazier in Queensland holding Sandringham and other properties 7 He was appointed magistrate in Gympie 1876 8 He was a commission agent at Hillston New South Wales in 1884 Horse racing EditThe Morphettville Racecourse had been resumed by the mortgagee in 1883 after its operator the South Australian Jockey Club failed financially following the prohibition of the totalizator Five years later restrictions on the totalizator were eased and Browne with some input from T F Wigley purchased the property 9 and leased it with option to purchase to the reconstituted Club Browne was then involved with the Victorian Racing Club and to a lesser extent the Victorian Amateur Turf Club In 1888 he purchased four yearlings Carrington which he brought from South Australia Tinlander Loch and Hartlands 10 which he raced with only moderate success and appears to have quit the game in 1891 Mining EditBrowne was a founder and local Silverton Adelaide 11 director of the Broken Hill Junction Silver Mining Company Limited in 1886 and its largest shareholder with 20 000 1 shares He resigned from the board in December 1892 as he had moved to Western Australia He was also a director of the Sterling Hill Silver Mining Company whose chairman was one Henry Browne relationship not found in 1887 He formed a company of which he owned all but a few of the 24 000 1 shares to purchase the Bayley s Reward claim at Coolgardie Western Australia from its finders Bayley and Ford 7 At its peak the mine was worth 480 000 12 Other interests EditBrowne was an excellent pigeon shooter and cricketer in his younger days in later years he was a keen golfer and he was a prime mover behind the Royal Melbourne Golf Club s acquisition of its course at Sandringham 13 Browne died suddenly at Garomna a property he had recently purchased near Cloncurry Queensland Family EditCaptain Sylvester John Browne years of birth and death not known was married to Eliza Angell Browne nee Alexander c 1813 8 November 1899 14 Thomas Alexander Browne 1826 1915 married Margaret Maria Riley died 8 September 1917 in 1860 Rose Christiana Angell Browne 1862 1935 author as Rose Boldrewood of two novels Everard Browne 1864 May 1926 married Muffle Chirnside of Werribee Park Victoria 15 He was associated with his uncle Sylvester s mining ventures 16 Emma Margaret Browne married E Henry Street on 1 June 1892 He was the third son of John Rendell Street MP of East Sydney and brother of Sir Philip Whistler Street 1863 1938 T homas Valentine Browne 6 October 1909 metallurgist assistant to his uncle Sylvester at Bayley s Reward gold mine Emily Louisa Browne married Robert Silvers Black on 11 June 1903 Gerald Macleay Browne mining engineer married Olive Isabel Smith on 22 May 1900 She was a daughter of Sir Gerard Smith Governor of W A Annette Browne married Robert George Massie 1815 13 September 1883 Cricketer Hugh Hamon Massie 1855 1936 was a son Robert John Allwright Massie was a grandson Emma Browne c 1828 c 5 March 1905 married Molesworth Greene of Greystones Bacchus Marsh He was chairman of directors South Broken Hill Elizabeth Corientia Browne c 1828 10 October 1875 17 married William Walker of Redleaf Double Bay in 1845 first Commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron fourth daughter Eliza Alexander Browne 1833 5 September 1910 18 fifth daughter Constance Browne 5 June 1837 23 August 1919 married James Tobin Cockshott died 1867 of South Yarra Victoria on 7 June 1860 3 Harold Murray Cockshott died 1940 barristerLucy Forest Browne 1839 1913 married Frederick Darley later Sir Frederick Chief Justice of New South Wales in Hunsdon England on 13 December 1860 19 They had a summer residence Lilianfels Katoomba 20 Sylvester John Vessie Browne 1841 1915 married Anna Catherine Stawell eldest daughter of Sir William Stawell on 17 October 1889 21 Sylvester Ulick Browne 4 September 1890 11 November 1964 born in Adelaide married Monica Frances Little on 2 April 1918 He contested the seat of Kennedy in 1952 died in Ensay Victoria Sir Denis John Wolko Browne 2 April 1892 9 January 1967 married author and politician Helen Simpson in 1927 Roderic Stawell Pat Browne 1894 28 June 1915 with 5th Light Horse in WWI killed in action at the Dardanelles Maureen Browne Diana Browne unmarried as at 1937 companion to her mother fourth son Sylvester Browne c 1900 too young to be accepted for service 2 Laura Lilias Browne 1844 1917 married Captain later Major General Sir Peter Scratchley on 13 November 1862 22 Arms EditCoat of arms of Sylvester John Browne Notes Exemplified 25 March 1897 by Sir Arthur Edward Vicars Ulster King of Arms 23 Crest On a wreath of the colours a lizard statant Vert debruised with a baton sinister Argent Escutcheon Argent two lions rampant combatant supporting a dexter hand couped at the wrist all Gules in base a boat with oars in action Sable the whole within a bordure wavy of the second Motto Fortuna Favet FortibusReferences Edit Mr T Alexander Browne Table Talk No 246 Victoria Australia 7 March 1890 p 5 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia a b Mr Sylvester Browne The Sydney Morning Herald No 24 204 New South Wales Australia 5 August 1915 p 6 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia a b The Late Mrs Cockshott The Sydney Morning Herald No 25 472 New South Wales Australia 26 August 1919 p 8 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Death of Rolf Boldrewood The Register Adelaide Vol LXXX no 21 321 South Australia 12 March 1915 p 8 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Local Intelligence The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser Vol X no 1 234 Victoria Australia 27 January 1847 p 2 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Domestic Intelligence The Argus Melbourne Vol I no 73 Victoria Australia 2 February 1847 p 2 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia a b Death of Mr Sylvester Browne The Australasian Vol XCIX no 2 575 Victoria Australia 7 August 1915 p 39 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Commission of the Peace The Queenslander Vol X no 21 Queensland Australia 8 January 1876 p 27 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Sporting Notes Adelaide Observer Vol XLVI no 2498 South Australia 17 August 1889 p 17 Retrieved 17 June 2018 via National Library of Australia Turf Gossip The Australasian Vol XLV no 1163 Victoria Australia 14 July 1888 p 25 Retrieved 17 June 2018 via National Library of Australia Broken Hill Junction Property Jumped The Express and Telegraph Vol XXIV no 6 937 South Australia 4 February 1887 p 3 Retrieved 18 June 2018 via National Library of Australia The Last of Bayley s the Find that Made Westralia Famous Truth Perth newspaper No 202 Western Australia 27 April 1907 p 8 Retrieved 18 June 2018 via National Library of Australia Mr Sylvester Browne The Argus Melbourne No 21 536 Victoria Australia 5 August 1915 p 6 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Family Notices The Argus Melbourne No 13 538 Victoria Australia 12 November 1889 p 1 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Personal The Daily News Perth Vol XLV no 15 938 Western Australia 27 May 1926 p 5 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Personal Cootamundra Herald New South Wales Australia 21 May 1926 p 2 Retrieved 18 June 2018 via National Library of Australia Family Notices The Sydney Morning Herald Vol LXXII no 11 718 New South Wales Australia 9 December 1875 p 1 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Family Notices The Daily Telegraph Sydney No 9758 New South Wales Australia 6 September 1910 p 6 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Family Notices The Argus Melbourne No 4 591 Victoria Australia 18 February 1861 p 4 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia The Late Lady Darley The Sydney Morning Herald No 23 477 New South Wales Australia 9 April 1913 p 16 Retrieved 12 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Family Notices The Sydney Morning Herald No 16 130 New South Wales Australia 5 December 1889 p 1 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Family Notices The Sydney Morning Herald Vol XLVI no 763 New South Wales Australia 21 November 1862 p 1 Retrieved 13 July 2018 via National Library of Australia Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol H National Library of Ireland p 384 Retrieved 20 August 2022 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sylvester John Browne 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