Sir Benjamin Chapman Browne (26 August 1839 – 1 March 1917) was an engineer and shipbuilder, chairman of R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company (1886–1916), Mayor of Newcastle, (1885–1886 and 1886–1887), and deputy Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland (1901).

Early life

Benjamin Chapman Browne was the youngest son of Colonel Benjamin Chapman Browne who lived in

Stouts Hill Stouts Hill is an 18th-Century Gothic revival country house situated in the Cotswolds, just outside the village of Uley. Although there are records of one Adam le Stut settled here in the 13th century, the present house, built for the G ...

, just outside the village of

Uley Uley is a village and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Elcombe and Shadwell and Bencombe, all to the south of the village of Uley, and the hamlet of Crawley to the north. The village ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

Professional life

In 1870, he was part of a consortium of four people who purchased the works of Messrs. R. & W. Hawthorn on the

Tyne Tyne may refer to: __NOTOC__ Geography *River Tyne, England *Port of Tyne, the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England * River Tyne, Scotland *River Tyne, a tributary of the South Esk River, Tasmania, Australia Peopl ...

. Browne had wanted the business to manufacture only marine engines but orders were buoyant for locomotives. In 1886, the business was amalgamated with the shipbuilders Andrew Leslie and Co.. The combined business became R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Browne was elected chairman and the firm's activities then included the building of

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s and

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s. Browne was elected to Newcastle town council in 1879, served as mayor of Newcastle from 1885 to 1887 and was knighted in the 1887 Golden Jubilee Honours. Also in 1887, he was awarded an Honorary DCL by the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

in recognition of the role he played in founding the College of Physical Science, which was later to become Armstrong College, in Newcastle. He was also a Member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

, and a Member of the Institution of Naval Architects. He authored a number of publications and several of these are brought together in the compilation ''Selected Papers on Social and Economic Questions'' published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

in 1918.

Personal life

In 1861, he married Annie Buddle, daughter of Robert Thomas Atkinson (1807–1845), a mining engineer, of High Cross House, Benwell, Newcastle, and the nephew of

John Buddle John Buddle (15 September 1773 – 10 October 1843) was a prominent self-made mining engineer and entrepreneur in North East England. He had a major influence on the development of the Northern Coalfield in the first half of the 19th century, co ...

. They had nine children, two of whom died in early childhood; three sons and four daughters survived him. His eldest son,

Edward Granville Browne Edward Granville Browne FBA (7 February 1862 – 5 January 1926) was a British Iranologist. He published numerous articles and books, mainly in the areas of history and literature. Life Browne was born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, ...

became an

Iranologist Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

and was elected to the

Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic is a title used at Cambridge University for the holder of a professorship of Arabic; Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet (1586–1668), Lord Mayor of London in 1645, gave to Cambridge University the money needed to ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Browne died on 1 March 1917 at Westacres, Benwell,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Benjamin Chapman 1839 births 1917 deaths People from Uley Mayors of Newcastle upon Tyne Deputy lieutenants of Northumberland People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of King's College London Knights Bachelor