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Jemmett Browne (c. 1703 – 9 June 1782) was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe from 1743 to 1745, Bishop of Dromore for three months in the middle of 1745, Bishop of Cork and Ross from 1745 to 1772, Bishop of Elphin from 1772 to 1775, and finally Archbishop of Tuam from 1775 until his death in 1782.

Of a family seated at Riverstown in County Cork, Browne was descended from an Englishman named Thomas Browne who had settled in the city of Cork about 1660. Born at Cork, the name Jemmett came from the family of his mother, Judith, daughter of Warham Jemmett. His father, Edward Browne, was Mayor of Cork in 1714. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Dublin. On 29 December 1723 was ordained a priest of the Church of Ireland by his relation (through his wife) Bishop Peter Browne. He was appointed Treasurer of Ross in February 1723/24, Vicar Choral of Cork on 14 July 1724, Precentor of Cork on 13 February 1724/25, and Prebendary of Cork in 1732. He then served for ten years as Dean of Ross, 1733–1743.

In 1733 Browne married Alice, a daughter of Thomas Waterhouse, and had sons named Edward (Archdeacon of Ross) and Thomas (a priest).

Browne is appreciated for architectural and decorative patronage of work undertaken at Riverstown House.

Browne was a friend of Laurence Sterne, who noted in A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) that "the Bishop of Cork and Ross has made me great offers in Ireland."

Publications

• Jemmett Browne, A letter from a clrgyman of the diocess of Cork, to his friend in Dublin, relating the conduct of the Bishop of Cork, in the degradation of Mr. Dallas (printed by M. Pilkington, 1749)

References

1. Michael C. O'Laughlin, Families of Co. Clare, Ireland (2000), p. 38
2. John Graham, ed., Ireland preserved: or, The siege of Londonderry and Battle of Aughrim (Hardy & Walker, 1841), pp. 345-346
3. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society (Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 1927), p. 68
4. "Alumni Dublinenses : a register of the students, graduates, professors and provosts of Trinity College in the University of Dublin (1593–1860 George Dames Burtchaell/Thomas Ulick Sadleir p101: Dublin, Alex Thom and Co, 1935
5. The record of old Westminsters: a biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster school from the earliest times to 1927, vol. 1 (Chiswick Press, 1928), p. 130
6. ^ Sir Bernard Burke, Ashworth Peter Burke, 'Browne of Riverstown' in A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland (Harrison & sons, 1899), pp. 50-51
7. Laurence Sterne, ed. Melvyn New & Geoffrey Day, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (Hackett Publishing, 2006), p. 230

• 1703 births
• 1782 deaths
• Christian clergy from County Cork
• People educated at Westminster School, London
• 18th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland
• Anglican bishops of Killaloe
• Anglican bishops of Dromore
• Bishops of Cork and Ross (Church of Ireland)
• Anglican bishops of Elphin
• Anglican archbishops of Tuam
• 18th-century Anglican archbishops
• Deans of Ross, Ireland
• Members of the Irish House of Lords
• Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
• Irish Anglican archbishops