Montfort Browne - Life - West Florida

West Florida

His first year as lieutenant governor was turbulent. Some of his land claims were contested, and the property he owned on Dauphin Island was found to be unsuitable for the population he had planned to settle there. His relationship with Governor George Johnstone was strained when Browne sided with the military in disputes between them and the governor. Johnstone left West Florida in January 1767, leaving Browne in command of the province.

Browne in 1768 led a successful expedition out to the Natchez area, bringing back a report of the fertility and emptiness of that area and suggesting that the area be developed. For his services in the war he had been awarded 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) in the province, and he used the trip to stake out large parcels of land on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River just north of present-day Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Irregularities in Browne's bookkeepping in 1768 drew criticism from his patron Hillsborough, and Browne formally requested that his books be audited when Johnstone's successor John Eliot arrived in April 1769. Unfortunately, Eliot committed suicide a month after his arrival, and Browne reluctantly retook the reins of power. He sent the provincial surveyor, Elias Durnford to London in May 1769 to answer ongoing complaints that colonists were making against him, but Durnford returned that December with orders removing Browne from power and granting Durnford an acting governorship.

As Browne was preparing to leave the province he was involved in a duel with a Pensacolan trader. The man was wounded, and Browne would have faced criminal charges had the man died. Fortunately for Browne he recovered, and Browne sailed for England in February 1770. He spent much of the next two years in England, having his finances scrutinized by the colonial office, and continuing to drum up interest in settlements on the Mississippi. There was public speculation on both sides of the Atlantic that the Mississippi lands would eventually be separated into their own province, with Browne as its governor. Hillsborough was apparently supportive of the idea, and resigned as colonial secretary when it was rejected. Browne continued to lobby Hillsborough's successor, the Earl of Darthmouth, for the establishment of a province on the Mississippi, but was unsuccessful. He was instead eventually granted the governorship of The Bahamas in March 1774.