Number 23/1573 Rank(s): Sergeant
District: Onehunga
Memorials
Biography:
His family were probably only briefly in Avondale in the early 1890s, and he did not attend Avondale School.
OBITUARY.
EX-SERGEANT BROWNE, M.M.
The many friends of Ex-sergeant Charles Townley Browne, M.M., will regret to learn of his death at Sydney on March 10. At the outbreak of the Great War he was a member of the Countess of Ranfurly's Own Regiment, Auckland, and enlisted with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Reinforcements, N.Z.R.B., arriving at Marseilles on April 16, 1916. He was then transferred to the 8th Southland Company, 2nd Otago Battalion, No. 2 Brigade, N.Z.E.F. He was the second eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Browne, of Onehunga, and was a skilful musician, specialising with the violin. Born at Avondale 39 years ago, he learned engineering in Auckland, and was the inventor of an improvement to the Lewis gun, which he patented, the British Government paying his expenses from the field to demonstrate the patent in London. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field of action. Mr. Browne is survived by the following brothers and sisters: Mrs. W. G. Everett. Epsom, Mrs. A. ]Davis. Parnell, Mrs. M. Nola. Remuera, and Mrs. R. Daniels, Grey Lynn; Ex-Petty Officer J. A. Browne, Auburn, Sydney, N.S.W., late of the Australian Navy, and C V Browne, Sydney. Deceased was a grandson of the late Wm. Browne (Baron) Hadlin and a cousin to the Countess de Lacy, of London.
(Auckland Star, 15 March 1934, p. 18)
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