Add MS 78186-78188

CHRISTOPHER BROWNE (1577-1646).

78186-78188. EVELYN PAPERS. Vols. XIX-XXI. Letters and papers of Christopher Browne, M.P.; 1590-1630, n.d. Christopher Browne, son and heir of Sir Richard Browne (d. 1604), was born in London on 8 Feb. 1577. He may perhaps be identified with the Christopher Browne of London, gentleman, who matriculated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 2 May 1589, aged 13, and took the B.A. degree in 1593. In 1603-1604 he obtained a lease of the manor of Sayes Court from the Crown for forty-one years, and on 29 July 1604 married Thomasine (d. June 1638, aged 75, according to MI in St. Nicholas, Deptford, quoted by Dews, p. 81), daughter of Benjamin Gonson the younger and widow of the sea captain Edward Fenton (d. 1603). A son, the future Sir Richard Browne, Bart., was born in the following year. Christopher died in March 1646; his will (P.C.C., 91 Twisse), by which he left his estate to his grandson Richard Browne, with reversion to his granddaughter Mary (later Evelyn), was proved on 10 June following by his brother-in-law William Pretyman, with power reserved to his great-nephew John Wells the younger. Cf. the Chr. Browne, elder brother of Trinity House, whose will was proved in 1637.

Three volumes.