Marquess of Sligo - History

History

The Browne family descends from Colonel John Browne, younger son of Sir John Browne, 1st Baronet, of The Neale, County Mayo, whose eldest son, the second Baronet, was the ancestor of the Barons Kilmaine. The baronetcy was created in 1636. Colonel John Browne's grandson John Browne represented Castlebar in the Irish House of Commons. He was created Baron Mount Eagle in 1760, Viscount Westport in 1768 and Earl of Altamont in 1771. Both his son, the second Earl, and grandson, the third Earl, represented County Mayo in the Irish Parliament. In 1800 the latter was elected as one of the 28 original Irish Representative Peers and later that year he was created Marquess of Sligo. In 1806 he was made Baron Monteagle in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave the Marquesses an automatic seat in the House of Lords. He was succeeded by his son, the second Marquess. He was Lord Lieutenant of County Mayo from 1842 to 1845. Lord Sligo married Lady Hester Catherine de Burgh, eldest daughter of John Thomas de Burgh, 13th Earl of Clanricarde. Lord Clanricarde was in 1800 given a new Earldom of Clanricarde, with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to the heirs male of his two daughters. Lord Sligo's younger son, the fourth Marquess, represented County Mayo in Parliament from 1857 to 1868. His nephew, the sixth Marquess, succeeded to the Earldom of Clanricarde (1800 creation) in 1916 on the death of his cousin Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde. As of 2006 the titles are held by his great-nephew, the eleventh Marquess. He is the grandson of Lord Alfred Eden Browne, fifth son of the fifth Marquess. He was educated at St. Columba's College, Dublin and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He married Jennifer June Cooper in 1961, and has five daughters.

The family seat is Westport House, Westport, County Mayo in Ireland.