Thomas Henry Bayly Browne (February 8, 1844 – August 27, 1892) was a Virginia lawyer, Confederate veteran and two-term Republican member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from

Virginia's 1st congressional district Virginia's first congressional district is a Virginia's congressional districts, United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia. It streches from the Richmond, Virginia, Richmond suburbs towards the Northern Neck and Middl ...

(1887–1891).

Early and family life

Browne was born in Drummondtown (renamed Accomac shortly after his death) in Accomack County on

Virginia's Eastern Shore Virginia's Eastern Shore is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) which encompasses the Virginia portion of the long Delmarva Peninsula located in Accomack and Northampton Counties. The area was established on January 1, 1991 by the Bureau of A ...

. His father was Dr. Peter Fielding Browne (1813-1880), and his mother, Sally Cropper Bayly (1813-1857), was likewise from an established planter family. He had a sister who died as an infant and an elder brother Orris Applethwaite Browne (1842-1898). Educated by private tutors, Browne later attended Hanover Academy and Bloomfield Academy, both in Virginia. After the American Civil War discussed below, Browne studied law and graduated from the law department of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1867. After the war, Browne married Anna Drummond Fletcher (1849-1926), and one of their daughters and two sons (including the future World War I artillery commander and Brigadier General Beverly Fielding Browne) survived to adulthood.

Confederate soldier

During the Civil War Browne dropped out of school to enlist as a private in Company F of 39th Virginia Infantry, where his widowed father served as surgeon (and would by 1864 run a division of Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond). Browne later fought with Chew's Battalion of Stuart Horse Artillery. He was with the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was a field army of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed agains ...

when it surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. His elder brother Orris, after graduating from VMI in 1862, served on the CSS Shenandoah.

Career

Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1868, Browne returned to his home town to practice law, and his elder brother also returned and advocated agricultural reforms as well as held a state job regulating the oyster industry. Accomack County voters elected Browne as Commonwealth attorney (

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

) in 1873, and re-elected him as well. In 1886, voters in the surrounding 1st Congressional district narrowly elected Browne as a Republican to represent them in the

50th United States Congress The 50th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1887 ...

. He defeated incumbent

Thomas Croxton Thomas Croxton (March 8, 1822 – July 3, 1903) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Virginia. Biography Born in Tappahannock, Virginia, Croxton attended primary school there and, later, the Tappahannock and R ...

. Two years later Browne won re-election to the 51st Congress, but in 1890 Democrat William A. Jones defeated him.

Death

Browne returned to his law practice in Drummondtown, where he died a few months later.

Elections

*1886; Browne defeated the incumbent Democrat, Thomas Croxton, with 54.07% of the vote to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. *1888; Browne was re-elected with 50.71% of the vote, defeating Democrat Gilmer S. Kendall. *1890; Browne lost his bid fore re-election, winning only 45.4% of the vote. Democrat William A. Jones won.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Thomas H. B. Brown, Thomas H. B. Brown, Thomas H.B. Brown, Thomas H. B. Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Confederate States Army soldiers People of Virginia in the American Civil War 19th-century American lawyers People from Accomac, Virginia 19th-century Virginia politicians 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives