William Browne

William Browne (February 27, 1737 – February 13, 1802) was a justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature (the highest court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay) from 1774 to 1775, and Governor of Bermuda from 1782 to 1788.

Early life Born in Salem, Massachusetts on February 27, 1737, son of Samuel Browne Jr. and Catherine Winthrop. He was the part of the prominent Browne family of Salem, and through his mother's side, he was descended from four colonial governors, including John Winthrop. Browne attended Harvard College and was classmate and friend of John Adams. His college portrait was painted by notable artist Joseph Blackburn. He graduated in 1755 and was valedictorian of his class.

Browne married Ruth Wanton, daughter of Rhode Island Governor Joseph Wanton. In 1762 he was appointed as collector of the port of Salem, a position he held until 1766 when he was dismissed for sympathizing with colonist on the Sugar Act. William Browne was also a colonel of the Essex County militia.

Seizure of property

Browne left Massachusetts for England in 1776, This site would later be mentioned by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his writing Browne's Folly. Arriving in Bermuda in 1782, he immediately took steps to improve the island's defenses and raising militia companies heavily populated with exiled Loyalists. Following American independence, he sought to establish trade with the new United States and make Bermuda a free port. Browne eventually received some financial compensation from the British government for his family's losses. Browne is noted as saying that “Bermuda is divided on domestic business, but it is united in its loyalty to His Majesty”. John Adams remembered his friend and former classmate as "a solid, judicious character...They made him a judge of the superior court and that society made of him a refugee. A Tory I verily believe he never was."