Browne, Richard H.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Richard Horace Browne, attorney, New Orleans, La., is a gentleman of long experience in the legal field, and his reputation and record are first class for integrity and trustworthiness in all matters entrusted to him. He was originally from Southampton county, Va., born in 1830. His father, John Browne, was a soldier of the War of 1812 and died in 1855. He was a most successful farmer. The grandfather, Jesse Browne. was a Revolutionary soldier and assisted in capturing Cornwallis at Yorktown. He died in 1845, at the age of ninety-three years. He was the son of George Browne, who came to America from the north of England and who settled in the Old Dominion. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Emma Holmes, was a native of Southampton county, Va., and died in 1845. Her mother was a Clayton of Virginia, and her father was a New Englander. The Clayton family of Virginia numbered among its members several who were prominent in the state's affairs. Our subject spent two years at Columbian college of the District of Columbia, and two years at Jefferson college of Pennsylvania, graduating from the latter as A. B. in 1851. He entered the law department of the University of Virginia, attended two years, but did not graduate on account of ill health. In the fall of 1853 he came to New Orleans, entered the law department of the University of Louisiana and graduated from that institution in the spring of 1854, being chosen by his classmates as the valedictorian of the class. In the following fall he began the practice of his profession in New Orleans, and here he has continued with but slight interruption ever since. He has been very successful at the bar, and is now one of its leading attorneys. He was for many years a partner in the firm of Randolph, Singleton & Browne, until the death of Mr. Randolph dissolved it, and is at present a member of the firm of Singleton, Browne & Choate, one of the leading law firms of the city. His practice is chiefly in the United States courts. He is a member of the bar of the supreme court of the United States, and has argued a good many cases before that tribunal. The firm is counsel for many important corporations. He is a democrat in politics, but has never been a candidate for office, although he has often been solicited to be. He is a member of the Baptist church, and was a Sunday-school superintendent at seventeen years of age, and has been identified with religious work ever since. He is a prominent churchman, and has frequently been a delegate to the conventions of his church, both state and inter-state. He has been president of the Young Men's Christian association of New Orleans, and is now the president of the State Sunday School association of Louisiana. He was the president of "The Committee of One Hundred," from its organization in 1886 until it disbanded in 1889. Its chief object was reform in the administration of city affairs, and it accomplished a great deal of good. In Masonry he is a Knight Templar. In March, 1862, he entered the confederate service as a second lieutenant in Company B, Confederate Guards Response battalion, and while in that command be participated in the battle of Shiloh. In July, 1862, he was assigned to duty on the staff of Brig.-Gen. Patton Anderson (commanding a division) as assistant inspector-general, and in January of the following year he was placed in command of the signal corps of the Army of Tennessee, during the absence of Lieutenant Otey. In June, 1863, be was assigned to duty on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Jones M. Withers, with the rank of captain, and continued with him until the close of the war, acting most of the time as assistant adjutant-general. He was in the battles of Farmington, Perryville, Murfreesboro, and was in charge of the Alabama Reserves at Columbus, Ga., when Major-General Wilson's cavalry attacked and captured that place, just before the close of the war and after General Lee had surrendered. He was paroled at Meridian, Miss., with the command of Lieutenant-General Taylor on May 10, 1865. He was never wounded nor taken prisoner. Shortly after he was paroled he returned to New Orleans, and as soon as practicable resumed the practice of his profession. Mr. Browne has been married twice, his first wife being a Miss Sarah A. Hollis of Savannah, Ga., whom he married in 1856. She died in 1880, leaving a son and a daughter who still survive. In 1882 he married Miss Maria L. Withers, daughter of the late Dr. Robert W. Withers of Alabama, and niece of Maj.- Gen. Jones M. Withers, his old commander. By his last marriage he is the father of one son.

From Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, volume 2, pp. 322-323.