Sir Valentine Browne, 1st Baronet

Valentine was probably born in the 1580s in Ireland. He was the eldest son of Nicholas Browne and his wife Sheela O'Sullivan Beare. His father was Sir Nicholas Browne of Ross Castle.^[1] His paternal grandfather, another Valentine Browne, had come from Croft, and had acquired large estates in Munster, Ireland as surveyor-general.

His mother was a daughter of Eoin the O'Sullivan Beare^[2] who had lost his chieftainship to his nephew Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare who had claimed a right to it by primogeniture. His mother's family were part of the O'Sullivans, a Gaelic Irish clan. His father probably converted to Catholicism to marry his mother.

Browne studied law and was admitted to Gray's Inn on 12 March 1612.^[7] On 21 December 1621 Browne was created Baronet Browne of Molahiffe.^[8][9] In 1623 Sir Valentine was appointed Sheriff of County Kerry.^[10]

Sir Valentine married first Alice FitzGerald, fifth daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, the rebel earl, by his second wife, Eleanor Butler.^[11]

Valentine and Alice had five children, three sons:

1. Valentine (died 1640), his successor^[12]
2. James, captain in the army^[13]
3. Nicholas, died without issue^[14]

—and two daughters of whom nothing further seems to be known.