BROWNE

This ancient and wide-spreading name, which occurs in early writings in a great variety of forms, as Le Brun, de Bron, Broun, Brune, Brunn, &c., stands 50th on the Battle Roll, and has the peculiar distinction of having produced twenty-one different families in the United Kingdom, who have received from the Sovereign hereditary titles of Nobility. Of these, only six exist. In England, the great house of Browns, Viscount Montague, and the Brownes of Walcot, Beechworth Castle, and Kiddington, Baronets, have all become extinct: but in Scotland, the Brouns of Colstoun have still a male representative. Their ancestor, Gualterus le Brun, Baron of Colstoun, appears, on the parchment roll of the See of Glasgow, as one of the witnesses to the inquisition made by Prince David, in 1116, the oldest Scottish document extant. The late Countesses of Dalhousie and Carnwath were of the Colstoun family; nor, amongst the numerous female descendants of the race, who have shed lustre on the name, are we to forget two, ever dear and memorable - the late sweet songstress, Mrs. Hemans, and the mother of the immortal poet, Burns. In Ireland, the Lords Sligo, Kenmare, Kilmaine, and Oranmore, all claim descent from the Norman chieftain.

--(This name appears on the Battle Abbey roll)