[1] 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.
[3] He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Dublin.
[4] On 29 December 1723 was ordained a priest of the Church of Ireland by his relation (through his wife) Bishop Peter Browne.
for architectural and decorative patronage of work undertaken at Riverstown House.
[citation needed] 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.