BROWNE, Isaac Hawkins (1706-60), of Garston, Herts.

‘Isaac Hawkins Browne’, said Dr. Johnson, ‘one of the first wits of this country, got into Parliament and never opened his mouth’.Boswell’s Johnson, ed. Hill ii. 339. Brought in by William Forester for Wenlock, where he owned some property, he voted with the Administration on the Hanoverians in 1746. Classed in 1747 as a supporter, he retired in 1754, in which year he published a Latin poem on the immortality of the soul. A heavy drinker, he died 14 Feb. 1760.