He was brought up to the bombazine trade, which he carried on for some time at Norwich.
He was not very successful, however, as he seems to have paid more attention to books than to the shop.
He afterwards established a branch of the St. Anne's School (London) at Lavenham, and conducted it personally for some years.
In 1783, a new edition of Phineas Fletcher's allegorical poem The Purple Island, or the Isle of Man was published, edited, with a preface and notes, by Branwhite.
[1] The miniature painter and engraver Nathan Cooper Branwhite was his son.