In 1849, he took a benefice in Cornwall, to which was attached a prebendal stall in Exeter Cathedral, which he exchanged in 1857 for a canonry in the same and the living of Heavitree.

In 1854, Browne was appointed to the Norrisian chair of divinity at the University of Cambridge but held his livings in the Diocese of Exeter concurrently.

During his time at Ely he returned to his hometown for the re-opening of a newly refurbished church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury in 1869.

[2] Browne was a high churchman and in 1885, he set up the first diocesan organisation of the Mothers' Union, which had previously been a simple parish meeting chaired by Mary Sumner in Old Alresford.

Browne was a moderating influence in the conflict arising from Essays and Reviews and the Pentateuch criticism of J. W. Colenso.