Thomas Browne (died 1460)


Sir Thomas Browne was a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Browne's tenure as Chancellor occurred during the Great Bullion Famine and the Great Slump in England. He was executed for treason on 20 July 1460.

Career

Thomas Browne was the son and heir of Sir Robert Browne of Betchworth and a nephew of Stephen Browne MP. In 1434 he was sworn to the peace in Kent, and made a Justice of Peace there from 1436 to 24 December 1450. He was High Sheriff of Kent in 1439.
He was Member of Parliament for Dover in the 1439-40 Parliament, for Kent in 1445-6, and for Wallingford in 1449-50. He attended the Parliaments of 1447 and February 1449, though this appears to have been as Under-Treasurer rather than as an elected MP.
He served as Treasurer of the Household to Henry VI. He was knighted 1449/1451. During the reign of King Henry VI, his highest post was that of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which he held between 1440 and 1450. He was later Justice of Peace for Surrey from 20 July 1454 till his death.
Browne was convicted of treason on 20 July 1460, and immediately executed. According to some sources he was beheaded, while according to other sources he and six others were executed at Tyburn.

Property

In about 1437, Browne married Eleanor FitzAlan, daughter of Sir Thomas FitzAlan, third son of John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, and Elizabeth le Despenser, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters: