Sir Valentine Browne, 2nd Baronet

Valentine was born about 1615.^[1] He was the eldest son of Sir Valentine Browne and his first wife, Alice FitzGerald.^[2][3] His father was the 1st Baronet Browne of Molahiffe, County Kerry. His mother was a daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, the rebel earl. His mother's family were the FitzGeralds of Desmond, a cadet branch of the Old English Geraldines, of which the FitzGeralds of Kildare were the senior branch.

On 7 September 1633 Browne succeeded his father as the 2nd Baronet Browne of Molahiffe.^[8]

When Charles I summoned the Irish Parliament of 1634–1635, Browne stood for County Kerry County and was elected.^[9] The Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth^[10] (the future Lord Strafford^[11]) demanded taxes: six subsidies of £50,000^[12] (equivalent to about £9,700,000 in 2025^[13]) were passed unanimously.^[14][15] The parliament also belatedly and incompletely ratified the Graces^[16] of 1628,^[17] in which the King had conceded rights for money.^[18]

Before 1638 Sir Valentine married Mary MacCarthy, the second daughter of Sir Charles (alias Cormac) MacCarthy, 1st Viscount Muskerry and his first wife Margaret O'Brien. She was a sister of his stepmother, his father's second wife.^[19][20]

Valentine and Mary had four children, two sons:

1. Valentine (1638–1694), 1st Viscount Kenmare^[21]
2. John of Ardagh (died 1706), married in 1672 Joan, daughter of Edmund Butler and sister of Pierce Butler, 6th Baron Cahir, but died childless.^[22]

—and two daughters:

1. Ellis, married John Tobin of Cumpshinagh, County Tipperary.^[23]
2. Eleanor, married a Mr. Power of Kilmeadon, County Waterford.^[24]

Sir Valentine died 25 April 1640 and was buried on 6 July 1640 at the church of Killarney. His son succeeded at the age of two and became a ward of his uncle Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry.^[25]