Stephen Browne (13951462–4) was a grocer,

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, a Member of Parliament for London and

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

Career

Browne is recorded a warden of the

Grocers' company The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, ranking second in order of precedence. Established in 1345 for merchants engaged in the grocery trade, it is one of the Great Twelve City Livery Compan ...

from 1425 to 1426 in London. He later held the office of master of the company on five separate occasions from 1432 during his lifetime. Browne was an elected alderman of London for 31 years between 1429 and 1460; he was sheriff of London from 1431 to 1432, and Mayor of London from 1438 to 1439, and again ten years later from 1448 to 1449. In these capacities Browne sat on trials and convictions of immorality. Browne also sat on London commissions from 1447 to 1452, and elector in 1449 (twice), 1450 and 1455. Browne was owner of land and rents in London and elsewhere worth £65 per annum. Also, King Henry V (died 1422) at one time owed Browne £400. Browne was a large corn-factor and interested in the cloth trade. In 1439 as grocer of London he had license to buy wheat in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

to ship to London. In 1448 his goods in possession of

Sir Robert Wingfield ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in Fren ...

Letheringham Letheringham is a sparsely populated List of civil parishes in Suffolk, civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district (formerly Deben Rural District and then Suffolk Coastal) in Suffolk, England, on the River Deben, Deben Ri ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

were destroyed after the Duke of Norfolk lay waste to the village. Browne as Member of parliament represented London in the Parliaments of 1449 and 1453.

Family

Browne (also spelt Broun) hailed from

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , RP: ), is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located on the River Tyne's northern bank opposite Gateshead to the ...

, and is said to have been the son of John Brown. He had a brother Robert Browne, whose son was

Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne ( "brown"; 19 October 160519 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a d ...

. Browne had one son – John Browne – but was thrice married to Julia, Alice and Rose, who all predeceased him. Browne died between 1462 and 1464 as his will was dated 28 April 1462, and presented at the London husting 5 February 1465. Browne retained links to Newcastle-on-Tyne making bequests for the upkeep of St. Nicholas in his will. He also had property at Lynn, and a house in

Thames street, London Thames Street, divided into Lower and Upper Thames Street, is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the busy A3211 route (prior to being rebuilt as a major thoroughfare in the late 1960s, it ...

. which was called Browne's place and adjoining wharf called Browne's Quay.' Agnes, the widow of John Browne, married Peter (Piers) Peckham, lawyer of London, and esquire of Denham, Buckinghamshire.'

Explanatory notes

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Stephen 1395 births 1460s deaths Year of death uncertain 15th-century lord mayors of London British grocers