BROWNE, Robert (1695-1757), of Frampton, nr. Dorchester.

Robert Browne was descended from John Browne, who about 1572 acquired the manor of Frampton, of which his ancestors had been lessee tenants.Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 297-98. His great-grandfather, another John Browne, represented the county in the Long Parliament. His father was high steward of Dorchester, where the family owned freehold property.Mayo & Gould, Municipal Recs. of Dorchester, 691, 695. At a by-election for Dorchester in 1720 he was returned as a Tory by one vote but was unseated on petition. Joining his younger brother John as Member for the borough in 1737, he voted against the Spanish convention in 1739, but did not stand again. He died 21 Apr. 1757.