Thomas Browne, 4th Viscount Kenmare

His older brother, Valentine, died in 1728 leaving the ten-year-old Thomas to inherit the title of Viscount and an estate of over 120,000 acres that stretched across counties Kerry, Cork and Limerick.

Browne was placed under the care of his aunt Katherine, wife of Don Louis da Cunha, Portuguese ambassador in London.

This was an Irish peerage created after the removal of James II from the English throne, while he was still de facto king of Ireland and prior to the conquest of William III.

Consequently, the peerage remained on the Irish patent roll in a constitutionally ambiguous position, but was not formally recognised by the Protestant political establishment.

Kenmare's aristocratic status and landownership naturally led him to play a prominent role in Catholic politics during the later eighteenth century.

In the early 1760s, he proposed unsuccessfully the establishment of an Irish regiment, with Catholic officers as well as other ranks, formally in Portuguese service but in practice supporting Britain's effort during the Seven Years' War.

At the same time, Kenmare, and other heads of Catholic families, were suspected by some Protestants of organising the Whiteboy agrarian riots in Munster as part of a conspiracy to gain power in Ireland with French assistance.

During the 1770s, with Arthur James Plunkett, seventh earl of Fingall, and Anthony Preston, eleventh Viscount Gormanston, as well as a number of senior bishops, Kenmare formed a conservative party on the committee, arguing that Catholic relief was best obtained by producing declarations of loyalty and maintaining good relations with the Dublin and London administrations.

Demands for the widening of the parliamentary franchise among the volunteer and patriot movements raised the question of whether Catholics should be included in any measure of reform, but involvement in the campaign was opposed by Kenmare and the conservatives on the committee, which never actually discussed the issue.

[3] In his efforts to revitalise Killarney he drained the bogs, built and mended roads and houses, he planted trees and divided the land into sectioned fields.

The boats organised to sail the lakes would often stop at Inisfallen island where the 7th century Abbey had been transformed into a dining hall at the request of the Viscount Kenmare.