Good Morning To You, My Gentle Friends,

Sir Anthony Browne was born on June 29, 1500, as the onoy son and heir of Sir Anthony ( or Ambrose ) Browne, Standard Bearer of Engladn and Governor of Queensborough Castle, by his wife, Lucy Nevill, who was the daughter of John Neville, The First Marquess of Montagu.

Sir Anthony Browne was Esquire of the House in 1524, made Lieutenant of the Isle of Man in 1526, and was the Ambassador at the Court of France in 1528 and 1533. He was Appointed as Master of the Horse in 1539, and had a Grant of that Office for life, and was elected as Knight of the Garter in 1540, made Justice in Eire, North of Trent in 1546, and Standard Bearer of England in 1547. He was Surveyor and master of hunt, astles and lordship of Hatfield, Thorne and Conisbrough, Yorks in 1518; Knight of the Body in 1522; lt T.oM, in 1525p Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber in 1526, Ambassador to France in 1527, joint with Sir Edward Guildford, Standard Bearer from 1528 to 1534, sole from 1534 to 1546 and jointly with his son, Anthony from 1546 until Sir Anthony's death; j.p of Surrey from 1532 until Sir Anthony's death; and j.p. of Sussex from 1544 until Sir Anthony's death; Master of the Horse from 1539 until Sir Anthony's deathp Privy Councillor by 1539 until Sir Anthony's death; Captain of the Gentlemen's Pension from 1540 until Sir Anthony's death; Commissioner of subsidy, Household in 1540; benevolence, in Surrey in 1544 and 1545p Musters, Berks., Hants, Oxon, Surrey, Sussex, and Wilts, in 1545; other commissions from 1535 to 1546; Master of the King's Harriers from 1545 until Sir Anthony's death; numerous minor offices. Sir Anthony was the Executor of King Henry VIII's Will.

Sir Anthony Browne's career resembled in many ways that of his elder half-brother, Wiiliam Fitzwilliam, The Earl of Southampton. From the age of ten, William Fitzwilliam had been brought up in the Royal Household with the future Henry VIII, and it is likely that Anthony Browne joined him there at any early age; both of them may have owed this privilege to their mother, a niece of Richard, The Earl of Warwick, or to her second husband, Sir Anthony Browne, a cadet of the Browne family of Betchworth, Surrey, who became Standard Bearer of Engoand and Lieutenant of Calais Castle. In 1518, at the age of eighteen years, young Anthony Browne accompnied an Embassy to France for the delivery of Tournai to Francois I, and by 1520, he held office in the Royal Household.

Sir Anthony Browne gave early evidence of a wayward personality when, in March of 1519, he struck a colleague in Sir Thomas Boleyn's Embassy to France. The King demanded a recall of both, but Anthony Browne's career was not to suffer; Sir Thomas Boleyn gave him a good report, and Francois I on leavetaking made him a gentleman of his household with a pension of two hundred crowns a year. Jousting provided an outlet for his youthful energy, and at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, where he acted as a server to the King, he distinguished himself at the tournament. the subsequent war gave him a chance to try out his military skills, and he was knighted after the raid on Morlaix by the admiral "for hardiness and noble courage".

When Sir Anthony Browne was himself Appointed as Ambassador to France in 1527, he revealed an antipathy to that court and country which was to grow with the years. His despatches strike a slightly petulant note, he found fault with everything, the French manner of hunting, the King's latest mistress, the Order of St. Michael which he considered a poor copy of the Garter, and the facthat he could find nothing worth purchasing. Later in 1527 the two Kings enrolled each other in their premier orders of chivalry, and Sir Anthony Browne was commissioned with Lord Lisle, Sir Nicholas Carew, Dr. Taylor, and Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms to invest Francois I with the collar, mantle, garter, and statues of the English order. In spite of Sir Anthony Browne's personal bias against the French, the King must have found his service to be useful, for in 1533, he was with Norfolk's Embassy in France. A certain thoroughness of application is revelaed in his "book of ordinary charges" for this mission; his signature on several pages suggest that he himself checked the weekly bills.

In 1538, Edmund Bonner, The Bishop of Hereford aned resident Ambassador in France, spoke highly of Sir Anthony Broowne to Cromwell, praising his "dexterity and discretion" and saying that he would need him greatly if there was much to do. Yet, Sir Anthony Browne's special visit to France in 1538 was to cause considerable embarrassment to the English Government. He and Edmund Bonner complained bitterly to the King and Cromwell of the bad lodging and cool treatment afforded them by the French. The King bridled at the implied disrespect at his person, and ordered Sir Anthony Browne to make a pointed withdrawal. Through their own Ambassador, the French took an injured attitude but the King supported Sir Anthony Browne's behaviour, saying that Browne had done nothing he had not been charged to do; the most the King would admit was that perhaps Francois did not know personally how Sir Anthony Browne had been used. A few weeks alter, however, after the Pope had ordered the execution of the bull of exommunication against the King, the English were put on the defensive. Cromwell told the French Ambassador that if Sir Anthony Browne had not mixed his private grudges and complaints about his meagre reception withthe affairs of his mission, he would have received promotion; to this the imperial envoy Chapuys added that Cromwell had called Sir Anthony Browne a "glorieux coquart" and blamed him for obstructing friendship with France. Although Browne was forthwith promoted master of the horse in place of the attained Sir Nicholas Carew, there was probably some substance to Cromwell's point of view.

Sir Anthony Browne took an actve part in suppressing the northern rebellion of 1536. He was one of the Surrey notables required to atend on the King with a retinue of fifty men. On October 15, 1536, he was sent forward from the base at Ampthill to join the Duke of Suffolk with reinforcements of cavalry and ammunition. He arrived as the rebellion in Lincolnshire was dying down and in November, 1536, he was sent to quell the movment in Yorkshire. In the first week of December, 1536, he was one of the commissioners who met the rebels' representatives at Doncaster. He followed up the military operation by administrative work designed to restore order, andhe was later among those consulted when the affairs of the north came before the Council.

Sir Anthony Browne saw military service again in 1542, by which time he had been appointed Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners. On September 10, 1542, he left London with William Fitzwilliam, now the Earl of Southampton, to join Norfolk and Tunstall as the English commissioners at York. William Fitzwilliam died at Newcastle, and Norfolk wrote to Stephen Gardiner and Thoams Wriothesley saying that now he had only Sir Anthony Bronwe left of his experienced subordinatesp the Duke had great faith in Sir Anthony Browne, who lacked "neither wit, diligence or soberness", and he ventured the hope that the King would make Sir Anthony Browne his half-brother's heir "in the name and lands of Southampton". Sir Anthony Browne lived up to his military reputation by devastating the area around Hawtell. In the campaign of 1544 against France, he again served under Norfolk and won further distinction. During the defensive war of 1545 and 1546 he was busy securing the coastal defences and advising the Earl of Hertford on troops, fortifications, food and forage.

In 1539, William Fitzwilliam had ridden round Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire in preparation for the coming Parliament; he rallied his friends, among them Sir Richard Weston, to secure Sir Anthony Browne's return as Knight of the Shire for Surrey, a place Sir Anthony Browne was to retain in the three succeeding Parliaments. His activity in the Commons has left seceral traces. In the Parliament of 1539, he was twice joined with Sir Thomas Cheney and Sir William Kingston in brining up bills, eight in all, from the Commons and with Kingston in bringing up a further three; in 1545 he was concerned in taking up seven bills to the Lords. At the beginning of Parliament in 1542 he witnessed a proxy entered for Thomas, Lord Sandys by Southampton and Sir John Russell, Baron Russell. He was doubtless responsible for the return of his eldest son Anthony, when still a minor, for Guildford in 1545 and again in 1547.

When he was not employed on diplomatic or military missions, Sir Anthony Browne was usually close to the King. In 1526, he gave the King a bonnet as a New Year gift and in 1532 he was present at Whitehall when the great seal was delivered to Audley. At the christening of Prince Edward on October 15, 1537, he was one of four gentlemen of the Privy Chamber who, in aprons and towels, had charge of the font until relieved by the Lord Steward; in November, 1537, he followed the young Queen Jane Seymour's funeral chariot to St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. On New Years Day, 1540, the Cleves party were met at Rochester by Sir Anthony Browne on the King's behalf, and it was to him that the King made a disparaging remark about his bride-to-be which made him fear for his half-brother who had written in her praise. In the divorce proceedings, Sir Anthony Browne testified that the King had entered into the marriage reluctantly. The statement that Sir Anthony Browne had married Anne of Cleves as the King's proxy appears to rest on a description made in 1777 of a portrait at Cowodray, and lacks confirmation.