Montfort Browne

Montfort Browne
4th Governor of British West Florida
In office Jan 1767 – Nov 1769
Preceded by	George Johnstone
Succeeded by	John Eliot
Personal details
Born	1760 Port Eliot, St Germans, Cornwall
Died	1780
Profession	Royal Army officer and Governor

Montfort Browne (fl. 1760–1780) was a British Army officer and Tory, and a major landowner and developer of British West Florida in the 1760s and 1770s. He commanded the Prince of Wales' American Regiment, a Loyalist regiment, in the American Revolutionary War. He served as lieutenant governor of West Florida from 1766 to 1769, acting as governor from 1767, and then as governor of the Bahamas from 1774 to 1780.

Montfort Browne was from an Irish family. According to his own writings, he served in the 35th Regiment of Foot during the Seven Years' War, where he saw much action in the West Indies, and was twice wounded. In 1763 a complaint was lodged against him that resulted in an unfavourable court of inquiry against him. When the British took control of West Florida after the war, Browne sponsored French Huguenot and Irish immigrants to the area. Through a patronage connection with the colonial secretary, the Earl of Hillsborough, he secured the lieutenant governorship of the new province in November 1764. Accompanied by his Irish recruits, he arrived at the provincial capital, Pensacola in January 1766.

His first year as lieutenant governor was turbulent. Some of his land claims were contested, and the property he owned on Dauphin Island was found to be unsuitable for the population he had planned to settle there. His relationship with Governor George Johnstone was strained when Browne sided with the military in disputes between them and the governor. Johnstone left West Florida in January 1767, leaving Browne in command of the province.

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