The Marquess of Sligo | |
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| Birth name | Arthur Howe Browne |
| Born | (1867-05-08)8 May 1867 |
| Died | 28 May 1951(1951-05-28) (aged 84) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | |
| Conflicts | |
| Spouse | Lillian Whiteside Chapman |
ColonelArthur Howe Browne, 8th Marquess of Sligo,KBE,CB (8 May 1867 – 28 May 1951), styledArthur Howe Browne until 1903 andLord Arthur Browne between 1903 and 1941, was an Irish soldier and peer.
Browne was the third son ofHenry Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo, and Catherine Henrietta Dicken, daughter of William Stephens Dicken.[1] He was educated atWindlesham House School from 1877 to 1880 and thereafter atClifton College.[2]
In 1903 his father succeeded an elder brother as Marquess, and he received the courtesy style, Lord Arthur Browne. Late in his life in 1941, he himself succeeded to the marquessate on the early death of his nephew.[1]
After a period as a lieutenant in themilitia, Browne came first in the competitive examinations for theRegular Army and was commissionedsecond lieutenant on 8 June 1889 in theRoyal Munster Fusiliers.[3] He was promoted tolieutenant on 30 December 1891 and served as a transport officer in theTirah Campaign 1897–1898, following which he was promoted tocaptain on 27 August 1898.[4] He served with the 1st Battalion of his regiment in South Africa during theSecond Boer War. At the end of the war in 1902, he went with the battalion to India. More than 520 officers and men leftCape Town on the SSLake Manitoba in September 1902, arriving atBombay the following month. He was then stationed atMultan inPunjab.[5] He received hismajority in 1907 and served in theGreat War as a colonel on thestaff of theDirectorate of Intelligence at theWar Office.[3]
From 1919 to 1930, Browne was the Principal Assistant Secretary of theImperial War Graves Commission.[3] In 1923, he wrote:[6][7]
"In perhaps two or three hundred years' time, when the native population had reached a higher stage of civilisation, they might then be glad to see that headstones had been erected on the native graves and that the native soldiers had received precisely the same treatment as their white comrades."
A 2021 report commented that his response showed "what he may have considered foresight, but one that was explicitly framed by contemporaryracial prejudice".[6] The report continues in the light of the lack of memorials and gravestones for non-white soldiers: "Underpinning all these decisions, however, were the entrenched prejudices, preconceptions and pervasiveracism of contemporary imperial attitudes".[7]
Lord Sligo married Lillian Whiteside Chapman, daughter of Charles Chapman, on 18 November 1910. He died in May 1951, aged 84, and was succeeded by his younger brother,Lord Terence Browne.[1]
Lord Sligo's funeral was described by his nephew, the 10th Marquess:[citation needed]
"..on election day ... his coffin, draped in aUnion Jack, was carried though the gates intoWestport town. The chief undertaker, a respected local builder, had been a general in theOld IRA. No one thought the flag sinister or a joke in poor taste. Indeed it was hardly remarked upon. The Eighth Marquess believed in God, theBritish Empire and Westport in that order ... and for him there was nothingincongruous about the trio."
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| Peerage of Ireland | ||
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| Preceded by | Marquess of Sligo 1941–1951 | Succeeded by |
