Hugh Hamilton Roe Browne was born on 10 April 1902 in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, one of the four children of Peter Otho Watkin Browne (1866-1955) and Jessie Browne née Carver (1862-1933). On 18 May 1902 he was baptised in Chorley, near Macclesfield, Cheshire.
In the 1911 census he is shown as one of the three surviving children living at Hillfield, Alderley Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, with his parents, his younger brother, Thomas Basil Roberton Browne (1904-1987), together with a cook, a nurse, two housemaids and a waitress. His father was described as a physician and his elder surviving brother, Otho Lennox Browne (1894-1979), was living away from his home.
He married Joan Margaret Coles (1912-1988) in the 3rd quarter of 1935 in the Eton registration district, Buckinghamshire, (now Berkshire) and they had two children, Michael Hamilton Browne (1936-2015) and Lucinda Margaret Browne (1939-2018), whose births were both recorded in the Kensington registration district. Telephone directories in 1936 show him listed at 15 Gordon Place, London, W8, but from 1937 to 1940 at 26 Campden Grove, London, W8. In the 1939 England and Wales Register they were all shown as living with his wife's widowed mother, Ethel May Coles née Morris (1892-1976) and his wife's sister, Betty Leaf Coles (1923-1994), at Dukes Mead, Manor Lane, Eton, Buckinghamshire. His occupation was recorded as a distributor of Far Eastern products, a director of a shipping & import company.
The London Gazette of 30 May 1941 shows that he was granted a commission for the duration of hostilities as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Reserve with effect from 5 May 1941 in the Administrative or Special Duties Branch and that his service number was 65676. He was attached to No.121 Eagle Squadron. Having completed one year of service he was shown in the London Gazette of 10 July 1942 as being confirmed in his appointment on 5 May 1942 and to become a Flying Officer (war substantive), remaining in the same Branch. When No.121 Squadron was disbanded in September 1942, with its American pilots being transferred to United States Army Air Forces, he was assigned on 19 October 1942 to No.203 Squadron at RAF Fayid, Egypt, where he was granted the rank of Acting Flight Lieutenant.
Telephone directories from 1976 show him listed at 4 Woodlands Glade, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and probate records confirm that this was known as The Narrows, 4 Woodlands Glade, when he died, aged 79 years, on 6 December 1981. Probate was granted on 8 February 1982 and his effects totalled £144,530.
We are grateful to David Morris who sent this lovely photo of Browne, his grandfather.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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