Sir Valentine Browne, 3rd Viscount Kenmare
Sir Valentine Browne, 5th Baronet and 3rd Viscount Kenmare in the Jacobite Peerage (March 1695 – 30 June 1736) was the son of Nicholas Browne, 2nd Viscount Kenmare, and his wife, Helen. After the death of his father in 1720, he succeeded to the family estates which had been under the management of John Asgill because his grandfather Sir Valentine Browne was a supporter of the Jacobite cause who took part in the Battle of Aughrim. For this he was attainted and the family estates forfeited.
The inheritance to which he succeeded was deep in debt due to mismanagement by Asgill. The difficulty experienced in meeting the heavy encumbrances on the impoverished estate fostered disputes in the family and drove close relatives into law with each other, much of which was both protracted and costly. It is possible that this financial difficulty caused him to refuse the requests of the poet Aodhagán Ó Rathaille to restore his land to him. This refusal caused Ó Rathaille to compose a bitter and mournful poem in which he launches a vitriolic attack on Browne. In later years however, the estate gained a sound financial position after portions of it were sold.
The exact status of Browne as either a Baronet or Viscount is disputable. He was unambiguously a baronet; The Viscountcy of Kenmare was created in by James II in the Peerage of Ireland after his deposition as King of England, but before his deposition from the Irish throne. The Peerage may be regarded as legitimate beyond Jacobites, but the protestant establishment of the day did not recognise it.
Marriages
Valentine Browne married, firstly, Honora Butler, daughter of Colonel Thomas Butler and Lady Margaret Bourke, in November 1720. Honora Butler died of smallpox in 1730. He married, secondly, Mary FitzGerald, daughter of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, in October 1735.
Children
He had two children: a son, Thomas, by his first marriage, and a daughter from his second marriage.
Death
He died on 30 June 1736, aged 41.
References
- Marquis De-Ruvigny, Melville Henry Massue, The Jacobite Peerage: Baronetage, Knightage & Grants of Honour
- Public Record office of Northern Ireland, Kenmare papers
- Rev. Patrick S. Dinneen and Tadgh O'Donoghue, The Poems of Egan O'Rahilly (Irish Texts Society Vol. III, second edition)