[2] He became Marquess of Sligo in 1809 on the death of his father and was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick on 11 November 1809.

In an odd turn of events, during the course of the trial, his mother grew amorous for the Judge Sir William Scott.

The affair produced one son, William Henry Browne (1813-1817), whose paternity Howe questioned upon discovering he was not Pauline's only lover.

On 4 March 1816, Browne married the 16-year-old Hester Catherine, daughter of John de Burgh, 13th Earl of Clanricarde.

Lady Hester was a cultured woman who patronised the arts and renovated Westport House, the family seat in County Mayo, and its gardens.

After the passage of the Slave Compensation Act 1837 he had received over £5,000 for the loss of 286 enslaved persons on his Jamaican estates.

He reformed the legal system, appointing the mixed-race Richard Hill in charge of the stipendiary magistrates during "the Apprenticeship" (a four-year period in which the black population was to be "taught" how to be "proper citizens").

[citation needed] These moves almost instantly made Browne a villain to the ruling class in Jamaica.

They quickly mocked his past reputation in the local press; "We are fully aware of his Lordship's nautical excursions and frolics before he came to Jamaica".