| Thomas Browne | |
| Birth Date: | 19 November 1708[1] |
| Birth Place: | Ashbourne |
| Death Date: | 1780 |
| Death Place: | Great James Street, London |
| Occupation: | Officer of arms |
| Parents: | John Browne |
Thomas Browne (1708–1780), Garter Principal King of Arms, the second son of John Browne of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, became Bluemantle Pursuivant in 1737, Lancaster Herald in 1743, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms in 1761, and Garter in 1774 until his death.
Browne was the most eminent land surveyor in the kingdom, and was called Sense Browne, to distinguish him from his contemporary, Lancelot Brown, who was usually called Capability Brown.[1] At first he resided at his seat of Little Wimley near Stevenage, Hertfordshire, which "he received with his wife." He later moved to Camville Place, Essendon. Browne died at his town house in St. James's Street (now called Great James Street), Bedford Row, on 22 February 1780. His portrait was engraved by W. Dickinson, from a painting by Nathaniel Dance-Holland.[1]
| Thomas Browne | |
| Year Adopted: | 1761 |
| Crest: | (1) From a crown palisado (Vallary) or a buck's head sable attired or (Nedham); (2) a griffin's head erased sable, beak & ears or, charged on the neck with a bar gemel argent & a trefoil ermine (Browne). |
| Escutcheon: | Sable, 3 lions passant between 2 bendlets argent all between 2 trefoils ermine.[2] |
| Motto: | Si Sit Prudentia ("If there be but prudence" (from Juvenal)) |