BROWNE, Richard II (c.1602-69), of Whitefriars, London.

Browne’s family came from Wokingham in Berkshire but as a youth he moved to London, and by 1634 had become a member of the Woodmongers’ Company.40CB; Vis. London, 115; N. and Q. ser. 8, viii. 54. A coal merchant by trade, he was sufficiently wealthy by 1639 to rent a house in Whitefriars at £120 a year, and he was able to invest £600 (perhaps as part of a syndicate) in the Irish Adventure in April 1642.41Fire Court, ed. Jones, ii. 114; Bottigheimer, English Money and Irish Land, 178. He was probably the Richard Browne returned to the common council in a controversial election of December 1641, who subscribed a petition protesting at the conduct of the pro-royalist lord mayor, Sir Richard Gurney, in July 1642.42Oxford DNB. By that time Browne had been appointed a captain in the City trained bands and he served in the west in the early months of the civil war, his actions at Powick Bridge, Worcester, in September, allegedly saving the parliamentary army from being routed.43Rushworth, Hist. Collns. v. 23-4. In November he was appointed colonel of all the dragoons raised in London, and in January 1643 he was among the leading London parliamentarians denounced by the king for their ‘great insolences and outrages’ in suppressing assemblies of citizens calling for peace.44CSP Dom. 1641-3, p. 407; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. v. 122. Royalist writers routinely taunted him about his humble origins, calling him ‘the faggot man’, ‘the great faggot-monger’ and ‘the wooden general’, but such jibes did not prevent his rapid promotion.45Mercurius Aulicus (23-9 July 1643), 404-5; (15-21 Sept. 1644), 1172; (6-12 Oct. 1644), 1191. At the end of June he was appointed sergeant-major-general of the forces for reducing Newcastle, but in July he was diverted to Kent to put down a royalist rising, with ‘full power … to fall on and fight with them … without further direction’.46CJ iii. 150a; Add. 31116, p. 129; Eg. 2651, f. 172; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. v. 277. Browne chased the insurgents out of Tonbridge, taking 200 prisoners, and within two days of his arrival in the county was able to report to Parliament on ‘the victory it pleased God to bestow upon him’.47CJ iii. 181a; A Continuation of Certain Special and Remarkable Passages no. 51 (20-7 July 1643), unpag. (E.61.25); HMC 5th Rep., 97; Add. 31116, pp. 130-1. He was formally thanked by the Commons on 25 July and added to the council of war on 25 August.48CJ iii. 181b, 218a.

Browne’s military successes led, in December 1643, to his appointment as commander of a brigade of London regiments to be sent into Surrey; but as his commission gave him ‘a power so large for commanding and punishing those that should disobey him, that it seemed to cross the power granted from the lord general to Sir William Waller*’, the London militia committee was asked to reconsider its wording.49Add. 31116, p. 205. An amended version, specifying that Browne was to act only under the direction of Waller and the militia committee was reported and committed on 23 December.50CJ iii. 349a, 350b; LJ vi. 352a-b; Add. 31116, p. 206; A. and O. Browne joined forces with Waller in January 1644 and was twice thanked by the Committee of Both Kingdoms for his ‘good service’ in the winter campaigns in Hampshire and Sussex and for being ‘a principal instrument’ in the parliamentary victory at Cheriton on 28 March.51CJ iii. 360a; CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 19, 53, 84-5, 95-6; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. v. 654; A Letter from Capt. Jones (1644, E.40.12). Despite calls for his brigade to return to London, in April Browne was ordered to stay with Waller.52CSP Dom. 1644, p. 104. In May Bulstrode Whitelocke* was nominated as commander of forces drawn from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire which would combine with the London brigade to attack on the garrisons outside Oxford; but he declined the position, fearing Browne ‘thought it sufficient for him to obey the orders of the lord general himself and that this might cause a difference between him and me’.53Whitelocke, Mems. i. 260. Browne was instead appointed in early June, and after a several weeks recruiting men and assembling the necessary money and supplies, he marched out to join Waller and in July their forces reduced Greenland House.54CJ iii. 521b-522a, 541a; CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 203, 255-6, 281-2, 288; Add. 31116, pp. 289, 292; LJ vi. 581a-b, 585b, 596a-b; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 278-9; Gardiner, Hist. Civil War i. 360-1. The hastily assembled brigade was of dubious quality, however, and the Committee of Both Kingdoms ordered it to withdraw to Reading soon afterwards.55CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 350, 352, 364-5; Gardiner, Hist. Civil War ii. 5-7. Browne was reluctant to serve under Waller and asked ‘to be discharged of the trust committed to me’ although he stressed he was ‘ever willing and ready to serve the state with the utmost hazard of my life and fortunes’.56CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 381-2, 426; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 284; Juxon Jnl., 55-6. Anxious to avoid divisions in the army command, the Committee of Both Kingdoms appointed Browne governor of the garrison at Abingdon, an isolated outpost that he soon turned into ‘a strong garrison from whence … he infested Oxford very much’.57CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 374, 427, 429; Clarendon, Hist. iii. 406. Browne obtained supplies and money for his men by threatening to resign or to disband his men, and by appearing in person before the Commons to describe his ‘many wearing griefs’.58Whitelocke, Mems. i. 306; Add. 31116, p. 333; CSP Ven. 1643-7, p. 147. He refused to release units to reinforce the troops marching with Essex into the west in August, and his constant feuding with Waller was widely commented on, leading Robert Baillie to comment in September that he hoped they would ‘lay down their great and known quarrels to join against the common enemy’.59Gardiner, Hist. Civil War ii. 15; Baillie, Letters and Jnls. ii. 226; CSP Ven. 1643-7, p. 138.

The indecisive second battle of Newbury in November 1644 increased the threat to Banbury, and Brown responded ‘by dallying and deluding, to retard their assault till we could get up our works and make out for assistance’.60The Lord Digbies designe to betray Abingdon (1644), 11. He even began negotiations with the king’s secretary of state, George Lord Digby*, in which he promised to surrender the town. Yet, as soon as the fortifications at Abingdon were complete, Browne published the correspondence and challenged the royalists to ‘come when you will’.61Ludlow, Mems. i. 106; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. v. 754-62; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 356-7; Mercurius Aulicus (29 Dec. 1644-5 Jan. 1645), 1322. The furious royalists mounted an attack on Abingdon in January 1645 but it was repulsed by Browne and he was thanked by Parliament.62CJ iv. 19b; CSP Dom. 1644-5, pp. 245-7, 253; A Letter sent from Major General Browne (1645), 1-6 (E.24.20). Browne remained at Abingdon, complaining about supplies and mounting occasional raids against the enemy, until the spring.63CSP Dom. 1644-5, pp. 266, 275, 281-2; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 361, 366-7, 393, 401; Add. 31116, pp. 399, 406. In April he and Oliver Cromwell* were given command of the forces around Oxford and instructed to guard against any attempt by George Goring* to bring his royalist army from the west country.64CJ iii. 138a; Add. 31116, p. 413; CSP Dom. 1644-5, p. 460. At the end of April Browne attacked a royalist party near Faringdon, capturing several officers; in early May he and Cromwell campaigned as far afield as Warwick; and shortly afterwards they reported that the main royalist army had marched out of Oxford to the north and they were preparing to follow.65Whitelocke, Mems. i. 428, 432; Ludlow, Mems. i. 119; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vi. 30; Add. 31116, pp. 417-8. The partnership did not work well. According to London gossip, Browne behaved ‘peremptory’ to Cromwell, and the two were ‘disunited’.66Juxon Jnl., 78. Sir Thomas Fairfax* intervened, leaving Browne at Abingdon to keep an eye on Oxford while the New Model marched north to intercept the king.67Mercurius Civicus no. 104 (15-22 May 1645), 428 (E.285.3); Whitelocke, Mems. i. 436; Copy of a Letter (1645), 1 (E.285.17). Browne visited London at the end of May and was thanked by the Commons for his ‘very faithful and great services done to the public’ on 2 June.68CJ iv. 160a; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vi. 35-6; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 400-1; Add. 31116, p. 425. Later in the month the Committee of Both Kingdoms recommended he should be paid arrears of £760 – a payment agreed by the Commons on 12 July and confirmed under an ordinance of 28 August.69Whitelocke, Mems. i. 455; CJ iv. 204b, 214a, 217a, 255a-b; LJ vii. 507b. In July he was sent 600 cavalry.70Add. 31116, p. 439. Browne was not satisfied, however. At the beginning of August he again attended Parliament, complaining of the poor state of the garrison at Abingdon and demanding reinforcements.71CJ iv. 227a; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 490; Add. 31116, p. 447. They were duly ordered.72CJ iv. 227b; LJ vii. 526a; Add. 31116, p. 448. But soon afterwards he was embroiled in further controversy over his unilateral appointment of a new governor at Newport Pagnell – a move condemned by the Commons which denied that he ‘had power by any ordinance of Parliament to establish any governor in any garrison’.73Add. 31116, p. 449; CJ iv. 235a; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 493. This was deeply humiliating for Browne, and Whitelocke reported, some weeks later, that he ‘continued very scrupulous and a discontent seemed to remain with him’.74Whitelocke, Mems. i. 499. Despite this, Browne returned to his post at Abingdon at the end of August, declaring ‘his willingness to serve’ Parliament, and in September he was sent to suppress disorders among the units garrisoning Aylesbury.75Whitelocke, Mems. i. 502; CSP Dom. 1645-7, p. 157.

By early October 1645 Browne was back in London, where he entertained Sir John Danvers*, John Holles†, 2nd earl of Clare, Henry Marten*, Whitelocke and ‘many other Parliament men’.76Whitelocke, Mems. i. 521. On 9 October he was recruited into the Long Parliament as MP for Chipping Wycombe in Buckinghamshire in place of Sir Edmund Verney*.77CJ iv. 287a; Verney Mems. i. 328-9; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 522. Although willing to take his seat, his military commitments mostly kept him away from London and when he did sit his duties were confined to military matters. He was first mentioned in the Journals on 22 October, when he was appointed to the committee for reducing Newark, and he took the Covenant a week later.78CJ iv. 318a, 326a. On 1 November he was named to a committee to consider the granting of a pass abroad to the disgraced Prince Rupert and on 10 November he was appointed to a committee to raise money for the Abingdon garrison from the excise.79CJ iv. 330a, 337a. Despite Browne’s recommendation of Colonel Payne as his successor as governor of Abingdon, Parliament insisted that he should continue in his command and on 7 November resolved ‘that his service in the House be dispensed’ with for six months.80CJ iv. 335a; CSP Dom. 1645-7, p. 218. Three days later it was resolved by the Commons to borrow money and raise reinforcements for Abingdon, ‘which is now in great danger to be lost’.81Add. 31116, p. 483; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 534. Despite this, Browne complained to Speaker Lenthall in December that very little of the promised money had arrived, and in January 1646 he again asked to be replaced as governor.82HMC Portland i. 323, 334-5. The latter request was dismissed out of hand by the parliamentarian leadership. On 12 January the Committee of Both Kingdoms ordered him to continue at Abingdon, making further promises about money and military support, and on 26 January the Commons resolved to continue him at Abingdon for a further three months.83CSP Dom. 1645-7, pp. 304, 310-1; CJ iv. 418a. Browne was reluctant to comply with this, and took the opportunity of a minor victory over the royalist garrison at Wallingford to return to Westminster on 10 February, where he received the thanks of the Commons for ‘his great services faithfully performed’.84CJ iv. 435a; HMC Portland i. 340; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 562, 570; A True Relation of a Victory obtained by Major General Brown (1646), 2. On 17 February he was appointed to the committee to consider the powers of the Committee for Compounding and on 3 March he was included in a committee to consider how to raise more money for his own brigade.85CJ iv. 445b, 461a. As a personal reward, on 6 March Browne was granted an allowance of £10 per day backdated to 1644 and a committee was appointed to recommend ‘some honour’ for his loyalty to the cause.86Whitelocke, Mems. i. 583; CJ iv. 466b.

Browne, who had been ordered back to Abingdon at the beginning of March, was still in Westminster on 26 March when he was named to a committee to prepare a proclamation concerning passes to leave London.87CJ iv. 460b, 490b. He arrived in Abingdon in early April, and in the next few weeks he played an active part in the second siege of Oxford.88CJ iv. 500b. He ‘gallantly entertained’ Fairfax at his headquarters at the beginning of May.89Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 14. Browne returned to Westminster immediately afterwards, and was appointed to the committee to consider the intercepted letter from the Scottish commissioners on 8 May and added to the Committee for Plundered Ministers on 15 May.90CJ iv. 540a, 545b. Thereafter, military commitments again distracted his attention, and he was present in the Commons for only a brief period in the summer, when he was named to committees on a letter from Archibald Campbell*, 1st marquess of Argyll (25 June) and an ordinance for regulating Oxford University (1 July).91CJ iv. 586b, 595b. After another period of military service he returned to Parliament in the autumn of 1646. On 1 October he was added to a committee to negotiate with the City militia committee about guards for London and Parliament, and on 3 October he was named to two committees on private petitions.92CJ iv. 679b, 681b. Browne is not mentioned in the Journal again until 7 December, when he was named to a joint committee to prevent ‘disaffected persons’ returning to London.93CJ v. 4a.

On 6 January 1647 Browne was chosen as one of the commissioners to receive the king from Scottish custody and escort him to Holdenby House in Northamptonshire.94CJ v. 43a, 44a; Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 101-2; Add. 31116, p. 593. In his absence the Commons voted him back-pay of £2,033 from the composition money and appointed a committee to investigate his outstanding arrears.95CJ v. 48a; Add. 31116, p. 593. Edmund Ludlowe II* later claimed that on learning of his commission to attend the king, Browne ‘turned about to me, who sat behind him in the House, assuring me that he would be ever true to us’.96Ludlow, Mems. i. 138. Yet it was later claimed that Browne, when in the king’s presence, ‘repented and promised better things’; and it is interesting that from this time onwards Browne became increasingly critical of the New Model and its political allies. Browne stayed at Holdenby for the next few months, during which time he was involved in attempts to persuade the king to accept a peace settlement and, perhaps as a result, quarrelled publicly with Edward Whalley* and Thomas Scot I*.97CJ v. 149b; LJ ix. 273a-b; The Intentions of the Army Plainly Discovered (Aug. 1647), 1-4 (E.400.37). When Cornet Joyce arrived to ‘seize the king’ on 3 June, Browne at first declared ‘if he had had strength we should have had his life before we should have brought the king away’; but without the support of his fellow guards, he eventually yielded.98Clarendon, Hist. iv. 225-6; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vi. 516-17. On his return to London in mid-June Browne drew closer to the Presbyterian party, and it was alleged that he became involved in the plans to raise a City force to oppose the army.99Clarendon, Hist. 238; Ludlow, Mems. i. 162-3. According to Thomas Juxon*, writing on 27 July, ‘the king sends Major-general Browne to the City of London to stand upon their defence, and if they should declare for him he would in due time acknowledge it’.100Juxon Jnl., 165. Browne played no part in the ‘forcing of the Houses’, however, and on 3 August, when asked to return to the Commons, ‘there being special use of your present service’, he prudently stayed away.101LJ ix. 372a, 373b; CJ v. 266a, 267b.

Browne resumed his place in the Commons only after the New Model’s occupation of London, and on 11 August he was appointed to the committee to draft an ordinance repealing all votes passed during the Speaker’s absence.102CJ v. 272a. He was also named to the committee to consider the resulting ordinance on 18 August.103CJ v. 278a. He continued to support a moderate settlement with the king. On 6 September he was a member of the delegation that presented the revived Newcastle Propositions to the king at Hampton Court and was later thanked for his ‘faithful discharge’ of the task.104CJ v. 293a, 357a; LJ ix. 424b; HMC Portland i. 436. It is not clear if, as later alleged, he was involved in a plot to persuade the king to accept the propositions with the promise that the City of London would raise an army in the king’s name under his command.105HMC Portland i. 593. On 27 October Browne was ordered to ask Richard Kentish to preach before the Commons, he later returned to him the thanks of the House.106CJ v. 344a, 368a. The next day he was named to a committee on the bill to remove obstructions in the sale of bishops’ lands and on 1 November he was added to the committee for raising money for Ireland.107CJ v. 344b, 347b. On 3 December he was nominated to a sub-committee of the Derby House Committee of Irish Affairs to consider a paper from the London adventurers.108CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 768. He was appointed to a committee to investigate the growing royalist threat in the City on 13 December.109CJ v. 480a.

On 1 January 1648 Browne was appointed to a committee to consider army proposals for free quarter and he was named to the committee for grievances three days later.110CJ v. 414b, 417a. There can be few doubts as to Browne’s political affiliations at this time. On 29 January he joined the Presbyterian, Sir Walter Erle, as teller against the motion for impeaching the seven peers (including the earl of Clare) who had continued to sit after the departure of their Speaker in the previous July: a division won by 56 votes to 20, with the radical Independents Sir Arthur Hesilrige and Sir William Masham telling in favour.111CJ v. 448b. In what may have been another indication of his growing Presbyterian sympathies, on 23 February Browne was appointed to the committee to draft an ordinance for stricter observation of the sabbath.112CJ v. 471a. On 3 March the committee investigating his arrears recommended payment of £9,016 plus interest, and this was agreed by the Lords three days later.113CJ v. 476b-479a; HMC 7th Rep., 13; LJ x. 98b, 99a. From the beginning of March, Browne’s involvement in the Commons increased markedly. On 8 March he was named to the Committee for Petitions and a committee to consider a claim of arrears from one Mr Peck.114CJ v. 484b, 486a. He was mainly involved in military affairs, especially those affecting London. On 25 March he was named to a committee to consider a letter from Fairfax concerning maimed soldiers and widows; on 20 April he was appointed to a committee on an ordinance for punishing defaulters from musters; and on 27 April he was one of those chosen to consider complaints of threats reputedly made by some army leaders of disarming and plundering London.115CJ v. 514a, 538a, 546a. On 10 May he was added to the committee for soldiers, and on 12 May he was sent to the City to inform them of Parliament’s successes in Wales and to press for the payment of assessment arrears.116CJ v. 556a, 558a. Browne’s attention was focused on London in the next few weeks. On 18 May and 26 May he was sent to reassure the common council about the security of London and to ask the militia committee to consider how royalist risings within the City might be prevented.117CJ v. 565a, 574a. On 14 June he was named to the committee on an ordinance to raise ready money to pay the army.118CJ v. 599a. At the beginning of July Browne’s popularity in London led to his election as sheriff (with Parliament giving him leave to serve, in response to a City petition), closely followed by his election as alderman for Longbourn ward.119CLRO, Rep. 59, f. 242, 248; Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 349.

From the summer of 1648 Browne continued to support moves for a political settlement. On 5 July he was appointed to the committee to negotiate with the common council and City militia commanders for the safety of the king and Parliament during future peace negotiations with the king.120CJ v. 624a. His earlier experience in the trained bands no doubt played a part in his appointment to the committee on the bill for joining the City militia to those of Southwark and Westminster on 10 July and his addition to the Middlesex militia commission on 1 August.121CJ v. 630b, 655b. This was followed, on 15 August, by his appointment to a committee to confer with the militia committee to consider how the forces under Philip Skippon* might be used to protect the City and Parliament.122CJ v. 671b. The New Model reacted to such moves with suspicion, and in August there were rumours that ‘Major-General Browne etc. are underhand preparing an army against us’.123Clarke Pprs. ii. 260. The army would not have been mollified by the correspondence that Browne was receiving at this time, including a letter from the prince of Wales ‘signifying that he looked upon him ... [as] well affected as the king and him and to the peace and settlement of the kingdom’.124HMC Pepys, 293, 298. Browne was a strong advocate for the Newport Treaty, and on 8 September he was appointed to a committee to suggest a City loan to carry on the peace negotiations.125CJ vi. 9b. On 25 September he reported that, in his capacity as sheriff, he had received a letter from the king for the reprieve of some prisoners.126Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 409. On 16 October he was named to a committee to consider a City petition for the maintenance of preaching ministers.127CJ vi. 53a. When, at the very end of November, Parliament received Fairfax’s letter, warning that the army’s return to London was imminent, some argued that the lord general should lose his commission and others that the City should prepare to defend itself. Browne kept a level head, and

made an excellent speech, declaring that there was nothing to be expected from the City, and that for his part he would endeavour the preservation of the peace thereof and to keep a right understanding between his excellency, the City and the army.128The Declaration of Major General Brown (1648), 1 (E.475.18).

Browne was secluded from the Commons at Pride’s Purge, but he had many friends to protect him and it was six days before he was arrested. In the meantime the army leaders put pressure on the City, demanding that Browne ‘may be secured and brought to judgement’ as he was accused of colluding with the impeached Eleven Members in their plot to encourage the Scots to invade the previous summer.129Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vii. 1354; Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 468-9; The Demands and Desires of… the Lord General Fairfax (1648), 1-4 (E.475.36). Browne was ‘fetched out of his house in London by a troop of horse and carried as a trophy of the saints triumphant to Whitehall’ on 12 December.130Mercurius Pragmaticus no. 75 (12-19 Dec. 1648), Sig. Ddd4v (E.476.35); Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 474; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vii. 1361. The City authorities sent a committee to ask Fairfax to set Browne free, promising ‘to engage themselves for the appearance of ... Mr Sheriff Browne’ when required, but as the committee included such radicals as Isaac Penington* and Thomas Atkins*, it may not have pushed too hard for his release.131CLRO, Rep. 59, f. 325; Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 155, 162. When taken before the army council, Browne was charged with inviting the Scots to invade, but he defiantly replied

To be your prisoner is by much the less displeasing to me for that my accusation is for nothing else but loyalty to the king and Parliament and the endeavours which I have undertaken to prevent the subversion of his majesty and his posterity, City and kingdom, the final loss of common right and freedom of all the subjects of England, the utter extirpation of all law, government and religion, and the preposterous converting of our well regulated monarchy into that monstrous conception, a military anarchy.132A Declaration to the City and Kingdom (1648), 2-3 (E.476.33).

Finding his language ‘too peremptory’, the army council committed Browne to prison; and the king was said to be ‘exceedingly melancholy’ on hearing of his fate.133OPH xviii. 465; His Majesty’s Declaration and Remonstrance (1648), 6 (E.476.23). There were even rumours that Browne and Waller were to be executed ‘to strike a terror into the whole kingdom’.134The Tyranny of Tyrannies (E.476.34). In reality, Browne and the other leading opponents of the army were sent to Windsor, where they were imprisoned by the end of January 1649.135HMC Ormonde n.s. ii. 87; Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 195. It was not until 7 April 1649 that the Rump appointed a committee to gather evidence for a trial.136Whitelocke, Mems. iii. 11; CJ vi. 181b. At first Browne was ‘pleasant and merry’ in his imprisonment, convinced that ‘his innocency in his present sufferings will in proceed of time shine forth as the morning star in its own splendour and brightness’.137The Resolutions and Votes of the Parliament of England concerning Major General Browne (1649), 6 (E.550.11). The City pressed for his release in November but the Rump ordered that he should be disabled from sitting as an MP, and he was also removed from the aldermanic bench on 4 December.138CLRO, Rep. 60, ff. 10, 29v; Jor. 41x, f. 10v; CJ vi. 328b. In June 1650 the council of state ordered that Browne would be moved from Windsor, first to Wallingford and then to Warwick, and he ended up in Ludlow Castle.139CSP Dom. 1650, pp. 216, 550; 1651, p. 81; Clarke Pprs. v. 160. In the meantime, on 3 September 1650, the payment of his arrears was cancelled.140CJ vi. 462a. Browne remained in prison for five years without charge. He later claimed he ‘was used worse than a cavalier’ and that he was denied contact with his family even by letter, although he was able to transfer his interest in the Irish Adventure – amounting to 1,000 acres in Co. Meath - to his son in August 1653.141CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 420; Bottigheimer, English Money and Irish Land, 200. Browne was finally released from prison in the new year of 1654, returning to London at the beginning of March.142Clarke Pprs. v. 160-1. The royalists soon sought to exploit Browne’s bitterness and in March 1655 and January 1656 he was in contact with Charles Stuart’s agents.143Nicholas Pprs. ii. 220; TSP iv. 347-8.

In August 1656 Browne was elected MP for London but was immediately excluded by the protectoral council. His principal contact with the exiled royal court thought this was just as well, as ‘he will not now neglect any opportunity that falls his way to resent the injury, as he himself said’.144CCSP iii. 189-90. On 23 September Browne signed the remonstrance of the excluded Members, protesting against their treatment.145Whitelocke, Mems. iv. 280. In the next few months he was again targeted by royalist agents. He received letters from the king and, in January 1657, was said to have promised to support their cause openly if the plot to assassinate Cromwell was successful.146CCSP iii. 236, 246, 258. He was not readmitted to the second session of the Parliament in January 1658, although Thomas Foot* informed the House that he ‘would willingly attend’.147Burton’s Diary ii. 405. He was arrested in March of that year, suspected of plotting to raise troops in London to support Charles Stuart, but was soon released.148CCSP iv. 31; TSP vii. 66, 99

Browne was re-elected as MP for London in January 1659, after a contest with another royalist sympathiser, (Sir) John Robinson†, but he played little part in Richard Cromwell’s* Parliament.149Bodl. Clarendon 59, f. 444; Clarke Pprs. iii. 173; CCSP iv. 133-4, 139, 143. He was appointed to the committee to receive the accounts of the armed forces on 17 February.150CJ vii. 605a; Clarke Pprs. v. 279. Browne became the focus for those seeking redress against the regime, and especially for those ‘who are now slaves at Barbados’ as a result of the abortive Penruddock rising four years earlier.151Bodl. Rawl. A.62*, p. 638. He intervened in the debate on 25 March, describing his experience in prison: ‘I was used worse than a cavalier … they kept me five years in prison and never laid aught to my charge … I was always faithful to you, and never broke my trust. I would die first. As you are hearing grievances of others will you appoint a day to hear mine?’152Burton’s Diary iv. 263-5. In response, the House ‘took sudden fire’ and the next day appointed a committee to consider how his arrears of £9,016 could at last be paid.153Clarendon SP iii. 447. The vote of 4 December 1649 was also revoked and Browne was ‘restored unto and capable of all offices, privileges and precedencies’.154CJ vii. 621a. Although the king remained convinced that Browne was ‘well affected’, there were signs that he had been won over by the protectorate.155CCSP iv. 130, 156-7, 168; Clarendon SP iii. 437. John Thurloe* ‘proposed to him to undertake the securing the City for Cromwell’ and Browne refused to meet the royalist agents from the beginning of April, causing much alarm among the king’s advisers.156CCSP iv. 178-9; Clarendon SP iii. 458; Mordaunt Letterbk., 8. In Parliament, Browne was appointed to two committees to examine the plight of disbanded and injured soldiers (7 and 13 Apr.); on 13 April he was named to a committee to draft a declaration on the excise debate; and on 15 April he was one of those ordered to take care of a petition concerning bills of mortality in the London suburbs.157CJ vii. 627b, 638a, 639a, 640a. In the final days of the session, Browne opposed the army. On 21 April he joined Sir Charles Coote* as teller against adjourning the case of Henry Cromwell’s* ally, Dr William Petty*, until the next day, rather than delaying it for a week to allow a proper investigation.158CJ vii. 644a. In response to the increased threat from the army, it was said that Browne ‘offered to raise 40,000 men for the security and guarding of his highness and Parliament, and he would see whether the army would oppose them, and he would have them ready in 24 hours’ time’.159Clarke Pprs. v. 285. There were even rumours that he was to be accused in the House of corresponding with the king.160CCSP iv. 185.

After the dissolution of Parliament and the fall of the protectorate, Browne re-opened talks with the royalists in exile, causing (Sir) Edward Hyde* to tell John Mordaunt at the beginning of May that ‘I know not what to think of Colonel Browne, who seems to have great obligations to the court, contrary to what I have conceived in your former letter’.161HMC 10th Rep. vi. 195-6. Soon Mordaunt could reassure his friends of the ‘good intentions’ of Browne, who was once again prepared to receive letters from the king.162Mordaunt Letterbk. 15, 26; CCSP iv. 204, 270. Browne was involved in the preparations for Sir George Boothe’s* rising in the summer, recruiting men in the City and being appointed to command the royalist forces in London and Kent.163Mordaunt Letterbk. 31. When the plan failed, two warrants were issued for his arrest and the restored Rump issued a proclamation for his apprehension.164Clarke Pprs. iv. 46; Whitelocke, Mems. iv. 360; Mercurius Politicus no. 585 (1-8 Sept. 1659), 701-3 (E.771.1); CCSP iv. 364; CJ vii. 764b, 774a. ‘Afraid of being secured’, Browne settled his estate on his eldest son and went into hiding.165Clarke Pprs. iv. 29; CCSP iv. 348. Although the exiled court made plans to welcome him, he remained in London and in December was involved in a plot by a group of apprentices to seize the Tower of London, which ‘doubtless would have succeeded but for the mistake of a scout’.166CCSP iv. 365, 481-2, 488, 494; Clarendon SP iii. 569-70; Nicholas Pprs. iv. 193. It was also alleged that Browne was involved in negotiations with Whitelocke about plans to persuade Charles Fleetwood* to encourage him to start negotiations with the royalists ‘and thereby to get beforehand with [George] Monck*, who questionless did intend to bring in the king’.167Whitelocke, Mems. iv. 380-1. Fleetwood later consulted Browne ‘in order to make an agreement between army and City’ and promised him command of the Tower if the plan succeeded. By the New Year of 1660 the royalists were confident that ‘Browne is entirely for the king’.168CCSP iv. 500. Another warrant for his arrest was issued on 5 January 1660. On 22 February, after the readmission of the secluded Members, Parliament revoked all warrants against him and acquitted him of all charges.169CJ vii. 848a. The same day, ‘with his beard overgrown’, he emerged from hiding and took his seat in the House.170CCSP iv. 569-70; Pepys’s Diary i. 64-5. On the day of his return he was named to committees on the bill for continuing the customs and excise and to ask the common council for a loan for army and navy supplies.171CJ vii. 848a. Two days later he was appointed to the committee on a bill constituting George Monck* commander-in-chief of the land forces.172CJ vii. 850b. Browne remained an important link between Parliament and London and on 29 February he was appointed to committees to secure City loans and to settle the City militia.173CJ vii. 856a. On 1 March he was named to the committee to ask the City for money to pay the army and navy, and when the City militia bill was recommitted on 10 March he was named to the new committee.174CJ vii. 858a, 868b. Browne pressed so vigorously for the king’s restoration that Monck intervened and ‘desired him to have a little patience’.175Clarendon SP iii. 696. On 15 March his arrears were at last confirmed and an order was issued for their payment.176CJ vii. 877a; Whitelocke, Mems. iv. 404; HMC 7th Rep., 484. He was present in the House at its dissolution on 16 March, and on 30 March he was one of those chosen as MP for London in the Convention Parliament.177Nicholas Pprs. iv. 206; CCSP iv. 643-4.

At the restoration of the monarchy, Browne took part in the king’s procession into London and was rewarded for his support of the royalist cause with a knighthood and a baronetcy.178Ludlow, Mems. ii. 273; Beaven, Aldermen of London i. 257, 260. He was restored to the aldermanic bench in September 1660 and became lord mayor a month later.179CLRO, Jor. 41, f. 240; Woodhead, Rulers of London, 40. He was elected for Ludgershall in the Cavalier Parliament in December 1661.180HP Commons 1660-1690. Browne died on 24 September 1669 at his manor in Essex and was buried on 12 October of that year.181Obit. Richard Smyth, ed. Ellis (Camden Soc. xliv), 83. Administration was granted to his son Richard Browne II† in January 1671.182PROB6/46, f. 11v. His only other surviving offspring was a daughter, Bridget, who married William Harvey of Roehampton in Surrey in April 1664.183The Gen. o.s. iii. 377.