Valentine Browne, 6th Earl of Kenmare
The Earl of Kenmare | |
|---|---|
 Browne in 1923 | |
| Born | Valentine Edward Charles Browne 29 May 1891 Grosvenor Square, London |
| Died | 20 September 1943 (aged 52) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Parent(s) | Valentine Browne, 5th Earl of Kenmare Hon. Elizabeth Baring |
Valentine Edward Charles Browne, 6th Earl of Kenmare (29 May 1891 – 20 September 1943), styled Viscount Castlerosse from 1905 to 1941, was the Earl of Kenmare and the son of Valentine Browne, 5th Earl of Kenmare.
Early life
[edit]Born 29 May 1891 in Grosvenor Square, London, eldest son of Valentine Browne, 5th Earl of Kenmare, and Elizabeth Baring. Among his siblings were sister, Lady Dorothy Margaret (who married Lord Edward Arthur Grosvenor, youngest son of The 1st Duke of Westminster), Lady Cecilia Kathleen (who married Col. Hon. Thomas Eustace Vesey), Lt. Hon. Maurice Henry Dermot Browne (who was killed in action during World War I), and Gerald Browne (who died unmarried).[1]
His paternal grandparents were Valentine Browne, 4th Earl of Kenmare and Gertrude Thynne (a daughter of Rev. Lord Charles Thynne, Canon of Canterbury, and granddaughter of the 2nd Marquess of Bath).[2] His mother was the eldest daughter of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke and Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel (a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel, MP, and granddaughter of the 2nd Earl Grey).
After his birth, he was immediately sent to the family seat in Killarney where he spent his early childhood. He was educated entirely in England, including at Downside School, Bath, before finishing with a BA in Trinity College, Cambridge, then headed for Europe.[3]
Career
[edit]He joined the Irish Guards in 1914, served briefly in the First World War as a captain in the Irish Guards and was wounded. While convalescing in Paris in 1915 he met Max Aitken, the future newspaper baron Beaverbrook, who would be his employer for the rest of his life.
On his return to London, he entered the banking business for a period but soon became a journalist, best known for his widely read 'Londoner's Log'. He was a journalist for the Sunday Express, and a director of the Evening Standard, the Daily Express and the Sunday Express, and great friend of their publisher, Lord Beaverbrook.[4] After he became a regular columnist for the Sunday Express in April 1926, his "witty but unmalicious commentary" on contemporary public life made him "the most celebrated gossip columnist in the British press" of his time.[5] He also wrote the screenplay for the 1932 film comedy Diamond Cut Diamond and the story for the 1942 film about Amy Johnson, They Flew Alone.[6]
He was famous for his flashing wit; when a woman told him "Lord Castlerosse, if that stomach was on a woman, I would say she was pregnant", he answered "Half an hour ago it was, and she is!"[7] He was active in Killarney affairs, creating a lakeside golf course and supporting Killarney Races, bringing a wave of tourism to Kerry.[8]
Upon the death of his father in November 1941, he succeeded as the 6th Earl of Kenmare.[2]
Personal life
[edit]Lord Castlerosse was married twice. On 16 May 1928, he married his first wife, Jessie "Doris" Delevingne (1900–1942), the first child of Edward Charles Delevingne, a butter importer, and his wife, the former Jessie Marion Homan, and great-aunt of models Poppy Delevingne and Cara Delevingne.[9] They divorced in 1938 and had no issue. She died in December 1942 of an overdose of sleeping pills at the Dorchester Hotel, in London's Park Lane.[10][11]
His second marriage was to Enid Maude, Viscountess Furness (1892–1973), widow of Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness, and daughter of Charles Lindeman. An Australian wine heiress, she was previously married to, and widowed by, Roderick Cameron Sr. and Brig. Gen. Frederick W.L.S.H. Cavendish. They married in 1943. By this marriage Lord Castlerosse had three stepchildren: Roderick Cameron Jr., Patricia Enid Cavendish, and Frederick C.P. Cavendish, 7th Baron Waterpark.[12]
Lord Kenmare died in September 1943 aged 52 and was buried in the family vault in Killarney Cathedral.[13] As he had no male issue, his titles passed to his younger brother, Gerald Browne. Upon the latter's death in 1952, the titles became extinct.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "EARL OF KENMARE". The New York Times. 15 February 1952. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
- ^ a b "EARL OF KENMARE, NOTED IRISH PEER; Baron of United Kingdom, 80, Once Leader in Society, Dies Owner of 140,000 Acres HOME ON KILLARNEY LAKES Father of Lord Castlerosse, Publisher, Wed Daughter of First Lord Revelstoke". The New York Times. 15 November 1941. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
- ^ Murphy, William. "Browne, Valentine Charles Edward". www.dib.ie. Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
- ^ Kidd 1988
- ^ Baron, Wendy and Shone, Richard, eds. (1992). Sickert: Paintings: [catalogue ... on the occasion of the exhibition 'Sickert: paintings', Royal Academy of Arts, London, 20 November 1992–14 February 1993 ...]. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 322. ISBN 0-300-05373-8
- ^ IMDb: Viscount Castlerosse (1891–1943) Retrieved 6 January 2013
- ^ The Glorious Madness: Tales of the Irish in the Great War by Turtle Bunbury
- ^ "Obituaries". Ireland Rock. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Page 1656.
- ^ Patrick Sawer (25 February 2018). "Revealed: Churchill's secret affair and the painting that could have damaged his reputation". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ^ "DORIS LADY CASTLEROSSE; Former Wife of Earl of Kenmare Did Army Canteen Work Here". The New York Times. 13 December 1942. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
- ^ L.G. Pine, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 99th edition (London, UK: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1949), p. 1107. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 99th ed.
- ^ "EARL OF KENMARE, COLUMNIST, IS DEAD; Wrote Sports and Gossip for Beaverbrook Newspapers, of Which He Was a Director SUCCEEDED TO TITLE IN '41 Captain of Irish Guards in the First World War--Was a Visitor Here in 1930". The New York Times. 21 September 1943.
Bibliography
[edit]
- Kidd, Janet Aitken (1988). The Beaverbrook Girl : An Autobiography. London: Collins.
- Leonard Mosley (1956). Castlerosse. London
- George Malcolm Thomson (1973). Lord Castlerosse His Life and Times. London
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