The Silver Bowl: John Monteagle Browne & Susanna Edgar

Annie BROWNE b 1876, married Thomas Maxwell GILPIN June 9, 1897 in Ardglass, Co. Down. See: Wedding photo (where is this? Janeville?). She died between 1903 and 1908 leaving two children, Daisy Montgomery GILPIN born 1899 and James Alexander GILPIN, b. 10 Sep 1902, Shore Rd., Holywood, Co. Down. I have yet to find Annie’s exact birth or death date, but it is possible that she died in childbirth.
John Plunkett BROWNE b 1874 (I have yet to find his exact birth date. Checked 1873-5) d. 11 Oct 1932 St. Bartholomews Hospital, London
James Carlyle Monteagle BROWNE b. 16 Jan 1877, at 144 Crumlin Rd. died on August 8th, 1910 residence D'Olier, Cherryvalley Park, Knock.
Edgar Monteagle BROWNE, born 15 June 1878, 234 Crumlin Rd. married Ozra HINSHELWOOD 22 Feb 1915. d.22 Aug 1950 Elm Park Gardens, Chelsea, England
Jane Edgar BROWNE, born July 10, 1881, 234 Crumlin Rd.; married Thomas Jackson BROWN 27 Jan 1909 St. Columba’s Church, Knock, Belfast. d. 7 Oct 1964, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Hugh Alexander Edgar BROWNE,b 21 June 1885, 234 Crumlin Rd., Belfast, married Eleanor Frances BOOTH 14 Aug 1919, St. Thomas, Heaton-Norris, Lancashire.
Martin Monteagle George. BROWNE, born 14 Mar 1887, 234 Crumlin Rd., Belfast, married Ethel STEEL 1915 (I do not have their marriage Cert – likely it was not in Ireland).

My grandmother, Jane Edgar BROWNE, left me her ring with the motto Suivez la Raison and the image of an eagle. On the inside, is inscribed Jeannie from Kate. This referred to her friend Kate WATSON, my godmother. This ring and other clues suggest that “our” BROWNEs are most likely to be distantly connected to the BROWNE family of Mayo SEE: BROWNE Family Crests – 2004 post.. Either that or “my BROWNEs” are pretenders to such. Regardless. here is a grab bag of what I have collected so far:

· My grandmother saved a newspaper clipping from the Belfast Newsletter, Friday, June 24, 1955, "Historic St. John's Point"..

Legal documents indicate many names in the title to St. John's Point when it passed to lay hands, such as Donal M'Gwynne, the Earl of Kildare, Viscount Lecale, Sir Robert Ward, Thomas Tipping Smyth, Captain Peter Browne and others.
This reefy headland was indeed a terror to the mariners of long ago, and many a brave ship foundered there. We learn from the records of the Commissioners of Irish Lights that in one period of 18 months early in the last century 13 ships were wrecked, 13 lives were lost, together with cargo valued at £57,800.
In 1832 the Killough Shipowners appealed to the Ballast Board in Dublin to build a lighthouse and the scheme was finally approved in 1839. The new lighthouse was designed by George Halpin, the lighthouse engineer, and the Marquess of Downshire laid the foundation stone in 1840, the builder being Captain Peter Browne and the first light shown in 1844.
JANEVILLE The quaint old estate of Janeville which we pass on our way to the lighthouse is of interest. The Smyth family or O'Gavins were [one of] many at St. John's Point. One of the family conformed with the Established Church and laid the foundation of the Janeville house of whom we had Major T.T. Smyth, of the South Down Militia, whose daughter, Mary Jane, married Captain P. R. Montague-Browne of the 9th regiment who died in 1864. He was succeeded by his son, Major-General A.S. Montague-Browne, who died in 1916.
Janeville had its ghost early in the last century when a lady who paid a visit to St. Johnston, as it was called, relates that she saw the figure of a little girl in a red silk frock, the deceased 10-year old daughter of Major SMYTHE picking flowers in the garden. She hailed the child by name, when she vanished into thin air. NOTE: See: BROWNE family connections from Cowdray, Sligo & Janeville and Andrew Smythe Montague Browne b: 12 Jun 1836 d: 1916.

· The Captain Peter BROWNE, in this news clipping was Peter Rutledge Montague BROWNE b: 05 Mar 1796 d: 22 Apr 1864 in Janeville, Co. Down husband of Mary Jane SMYTHE. He was the agent for Lord Bangor who owned most of the land in and around Killough. Some families, such as the RANAGHAN who were Catholic tenant farmers at Kilbride, St. John's Point and Commonreagh in the 1830s were put off the land as a result of his actions.

· 25 June 1853. Down Recorder: a Major BROWNE of Janeville was a witness in an assault case.

· Ordinance Survey Memoirs list Peter BROWNE as a corn mill owner in 1836 (Vol 17, p. 35, 36, 49, 88).

· Killough, the Church by the Loch, p. 90, 91 indicates that General BROWNE of Janesville was a regular attendant at the Killough Lifeboat committee c. 1903 and his ancestors had provided a lifeboat service along the coast for 100 years.

· Lecale Miscellany Vol III (1993) "St. John's Lighthouse, Captain BROWNE, formerly of Mayo, served with the 9th East Norfolk Regiment".

· 1901 Census. John BROWNE aka John Monteagle BROWNE (1849-1918) is listed at Tullycarnon, Ardglass.

· Brothers Architects of Tullycarnan were the architects of new Masonic Hall 20 Apr 1912. SOURCE: Ros Davies, Down Reporter Article. NOTE: I suspect this was the Masonic Hall on Crumlin St., Belfast.

· The Ordinance Survey Map of Belfast (Bloomfield) 1902 shows a J.C.M BROWN, architect and civil engineer living at Holly Park, Knock, Belfast. (aka James Carlyle Monteagle BROWNE) This was brought to my attention courtesy of Margaret Innis and it accords with the memory of Dorothy Robertson (granddaughter of the John Monteagle BROWNE) of visiting Holly Park as a child in the early 1920s. It seems that Holy Park was the home of John Monteagle & Susanna BROWNE before they retired to Ardglass and ownership was passed to their eldest son.

· In August 1910 (according to the obituary of James Carlyle Monteagle BROWNE), John Monteagle BROWNE lived at Ringfad, Ardglass, Co. Down. Before then, they had lived in Belfast. His granddaughter, Dorothy Robertson, recalls hearing that they had two residences for years, the other being in Knock, but they then moved full time to Ardglass. In their later years, the family lived in a house called "The White Lodge" near Coney Island.

· John Montague BROWNE owned a drapery business. The last person known to be running it was Hugh Martin in the 1950s. He sold it and a few years later there was an “accident” and it burned down. It was rebuilt and is now a clothing store in Ardglass called C.W. Wills. When the BROWNE family ran it, people came from the surrounding areas to have their clothes made up. The bolts of cloth were displayed on the ground floor and the tailors and seamstresses worked upstairs.

· In the 1909 marriage notice of his daughter, Jeannie (aka Jane) Edgar BROWNE, John Monteagle BROWNE was described as resident at Tullycarnan, in Ardglass and Knock in Belfast.

· Berni Sutton and her family currently own and live at "White Lodge” and have renamed the place “Heron Farm”. She is a ceramic artist and her husband is a furniture maker. They also board horses and have a gymkhana (horseback contests?) of sorts near the road. They are restoring the three cottages. In the past one cottage, was called “ONE TREE COTTAGE” and the other “NO TREE COTTAGE”. We are assuming that since the third had been used for housing poultry, that it no longer had the designation of “cottage”. They plan to be open for B&B business by Easter of 2002 Update: SEE: Coney Island Design. 'One Tree Cottage' is a NITB registered self catering cottage on Heron Farm, and you can stay there and take part in workshops run by Berni.

o Of further interest: Berni found an old slate sundial in the loft inscribed with the name “Lieutenant John Martin Esq. Ringfad. July 12th 1690, and on one my visits, she insisted that I take it home. It now has pride of place on the wall in our dining area. We still don’t know exactly who this Lieutenant John Martin Esq. is. The earliest MARTIN ancestor we have in Ardglass was Allan MARTIN born in 1743. This sundial could indicate an even earlier presence of the family.

· When Susanna BROWNE died, the remains of her estate was sold off on January 22nd, 1923, realizing proceeds of £165:5:3.:

o Moved his family to Tullycarnen, near Ardglass (a port on the Irish Sea), in County Down, Ireland.

· SOURCE: Notes written by his [John Monteagle's] grandson Michael Browne:

o "Christened at Rossorry Parish Church [Co. Fermanagh] Jan 28, 1849. Died age 70 years at Tullycarnon, near Ardglass, N. Ireland and buried with wife in Ardglass Parish Church Feb 21, 1919. Church of Ireland. John M. Browne left County Fermanagh for Belfast, Ulster, circa 1870 and had linen manufacturing and farming interests around there, living at Knock before his wife got left Tullycarnon, near the city of Mourne in 1895 when they all resided there. His parents home, Glencullen in County Fermanagh [aka Glencunny, Parish Rossorry, Barony of Magheraboy -on Sligo Road aka the A4] was the Browne family home for quite a few generations, 40 miles from Sligo."

o Feb 18, 1952 The family home burned down when his children were young - "Our home was burned to the ground when we were children. All the family jewels and records a complete loss." This was likely their home at 144 Crumlin – before they moved to 234 Crumlin Rd. A Brown, J, draper resided at 234 Crumlin Rd. in 1895 when the children were no longer young. (SOURCE: Belfast & Ulster Directory, 1895).

· SOURCE: RE: Fermanagh Ancestors. NOTE: It would be helpful to be able to see the crest on this grave marker (if it still exists).

Old Rossary Graveyard: compiled by Seamas Mac Annaidh

BROWN – Thanks to IGP transcriptions.

Erected by James Brown in memory of his mother Jane Brown

who departed this life Oct. 3rd 1763 aged 37 years. Also his

2 sons James and Chas. who died young & father John Brown

died June 1799 aged 75 years.

This stone has a very fine crest but is cracked across the

middle.

Jane Brown, Enniskillen, 5 February 1817

Margaret Brown, Mullaghy, 8 February 1827

Mary Brown, 74, 13 July 1827

John Brown of Ashwoods, 80, 4 April 1834

Mary Brown, Silverhill, Devenish, 85, 23 November 1835

· SOURCE: In 2004, I received a lengthy and informative letter as well as family history from Norway from Raymond Douglas Monteagle BROWNE, who lived in Norway. We followed up with a few phone calls. Raymond’s oral history and the recollections of his mother (SEE: The Monteagle BROWNEs of Ardglass and Knock, Belfast) fit with the facts I have found so far. In the late 1950's, as a teenager, I visited Raymond’s mother and father, and felt an immediate and deep fondness for both of them.

· SOURCE: Letter from Raymond BROWNE 2Sept2004 Susannah BROWNE was quoted as saying, "Oh! I was never happier than I was when I was pregnant." (to the considerable annoyance of Ethel who suffered greatly from morning-sickness.)

· SOURCE: 1901 Census. John Monteagle BROWNE's occupation was recorded as Farmer. The house had a stable, a harness room, a cow house, a calf house, a piggery, a fowl house, a boiling house, a barn, a potato house and a shed for a total of 11 outhouses. The house was stone, brick or concrete with a roof of slate, iron or tile. There were 5-6 rooms (this would seem to indicate the addition happened after the census - likely when the family fully relocated from Belfast) and there were six windows in the front of the house (this might help to establish where the addition starts). There were only John & Susannah included as residents in 1901, which buttresses the notion that the grown children were all living elsewhere.

· SOURCE: Tony BROWNE - The EDGARs were reportedly from West Meath County, Ireland.

· And this deponent did credibly hear that some of the said rebellious company did murder Christopher Cotes the elder Christopher Coates the younger Christopher Bowcer the elder Christopher Bowcer the younger, William Marshall, Thomas Bulmin (?), Charles Randall, Francis Wilkinson, Henry Wilkinson, Peter Maddeson, Humphrey Brockhowse, William Browne, Maximilian Tibbs, Thomas Sergeant, George Dickenson, Richard Lewis, Stephen Ripon (?), Anthony Barlow, Edward Poulter, John Maine, coroner of that county, Thomas Presley, Francis Somner, Richard Butler, John Chadwick and divers other men women and children, this deponent not now remembering their names.
And further deposeth that there is one hundred of the said parishioners that lived in good "ranck" and fashion that were driven out of their habitations and banished by the said rebellious Irish and that near all English protestants perished and dead. And this deponent is the rather confident that there is one hundred or more dead by reason the daily die in such abundance, this deponent well knowing the said parishioners being his neighbours and being a butcher by trade had some dealings with the most of them. And further sayeth that some of the said rebels said that they had a king of their own in Ireland.
Sworn 10th January 1641 before John Watson and William Aldrich. [Examined]

· 69. Anne Booth of Littergreene of parish of Drumully in County of Fermanagh wife to James Booth of the same tailor (now one of His Majesty's soldiers gone for Droghedah under the command of Edward Aldrich [duly sworn] deposeth that her said husband was robbed and dispoiled of all his goods [chattels and means] the 25th day of October last about "ten a clock in the foornoone" worth £205 [in all amounting to the sum of £205] by the hands action and means of Captain Rory Maguire and one of the sons of James Netterville of the barony of Magharistaphanie in the said county Esquire whose christain name she knoweth not and other irish rebels assembled in their company to the number of 400 or thereabouts. And that she her husband and two children were all stripped and all their clothes taken from them the said day in the churchyard at Newtowne in the said parish, and her other two children stripped and their clothes taken from them within two miles of the said town the next day following, saying they had a warrant from the said Captain Rory to strip all the English that they met with all in the said county [that when they stripped this deponent "they ript downe her smock with a skeane" she did see some of them with a "skeane" give unto William Browne of the said parish one great wound in his hand?] and the same night that this deponent and her husband where robbed the said rebels imprisoned this deponent and about 20 more in Newtown aforesaid and kept a guard about them all which time one of the soldiers and servants of the said Rory Maguire said that they would show no favour to any for they intended not to leave an Englishman in Ireland but they would have their lands again or else they would lose but their lives goods and lands or to that effect.
And saith that about two days before they robbery aforesaid the said rebels killed one Mr Christopher Cotes and by report they also killed one Abraham James George Dicconson George Randale John Mange gent and Stephen Rickson.
Sworn 8th January 1641 before William Hitchcock and Henry Brereton. [Examined]