Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8954388

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OBITUARY.

We regret to have to announce the death of the   Venerable Archdeacon Browne, which occurred at   his residence in Launceston on the 18th June, and we need not say, cast quite a gloom over that town The late Archdeacon was about the oldest clergyman   of the Anglican Church in the island, and the work which he did during his early ministry in the North   was one of a truly evangelical missionary. The     deceased was the eldest son of the late Henry     Browne Esq., of Ballinvoher and was bom in Mallow

County Cork in the year 1800, consequently he had at the time of his death exceeded by several years the       allotted period of human existence. He was educated     at Charleville, a few miles from Mallow, and among his schoolfellows was his brother archdeacon, the Venerable Archdeacon Davies. From Charleville Mr Browne, on the 6th October, 1817, went to Trinity College Dublin, and it was at that time   intended that he should study for the medical profession. After ia short residence in college, however,Mr Browne relinquished the idea of   following the profession just mentioned and turned his attention to theological subjects, to which he   gave his unremitting consideration. In 1821, he graduated as Bachelor of Arts,, and in 1828 took     the higher degree of M A and LL D , the latter honour being conferred upon him somewhat pre- maturely in consequence of his coming out to Tas-   mania, and partly, no doubt, because he was an Honor-man of his university Mr Browne     was appointed to the curacy of Whitechurch,   on the Blackwater, in the year 1824, and was   raised to the priesthood the same year. He was appointed Colonial Chaplain in Tasmania under the sign manual of George IV, on the 4th of February, 1828. He started from the Cove of Cork in a vessel called tho Coronet on the 1st May of that year, arriving in Hobart Town on the 6th of October, and on the 1st November the Gazette noti-

fied his appointment to Launceston. A few years after the Venerable Archdeacon Davies (though, of course not then Archdeacon) joined Dr Browne, and for a considerable period they two were the only     ministers of the Anglican Church in Northern Tasmania , and from the time of his arrival up to his retiring upon Government pension, Archdeacon Browne was always most earnest and   assiduous in the performance of his duties , the only   breakage in a long chain of years having been occasioned through severe illness consequent on a fall from his horse in 1838 or 1839. The reverend Dr. was then seriously injured, and he was obliged to take two years rest. On his recovery he resumed       the active duties of the ministry and continued therein until 1854 when he obtained a two years leave of absence, and took the opportunity of visiting England, Constantinople, Venice, and other   places of interest on the continent of Europe. On his return Dr Browne again entered upon his duties, and as we have already stated, continued

to discharge them zealously and faithfully until he received the Government pension about eight years ago. Two or three years later, owing to changes   made in the Church, he was appointed Archdeacon of Launceston, the duties of which position though the emoluments attached to it amounted to only £50 per annum - he discharged with un- remitting attention up to the time of his death. About the years 1851 - 52, during the bishopric of Bishop Nixon, the clergymen in the North thought it necessary to protest against the high Church in- fluences which wore sought to be introduced into the Protestant Church, and the deceased divine not only headed the movement, but signed what was then     known as the famous " solemn declaration." He was   always recognised as the head of the low church party, and his liberal views on church government made him many friends. But Archdeacon Browne did not confine his influence to church matters only. He took a very active part in conjunction with the late Rev. John West (subsequently, and until his decease, editor of the Sydney Morning Herald), and   all the leading colonists in the North of Tasmania to induce-almost to coerce-the British Govern-   ment to discontinue transportaion; and for which purpose Mr. J. A. Jackson was maintained as paid agent of the colony in London Archdeacon Browne also initiated in Launceston a movement in the direction of funeral reform, and his views on that subject are well worth quoting, believing, as we have reason to do, that they form

the substance of the desire the aged divine expressed,     as to the arrangements to be observed in relation to     his own obsequies. Funerals, he advocated, should       be conducted in the most inexpensive way consistent  

with decency ; there should be no scarfs, crape, or  

gloves given to any one ; the cofhn should be carried   not on men's shoulders, but between them as they walk on either side of it ; that a funeral should not be later than 10 am., and should proceed direct to   the cemetery, and, as much as could be, in silence.

The venerable Doctor did not live to see these reforms achieved, but of their wisdom none can have an honest doubt. He has, however, died full of honors ; and many poor people, as well as his fellow workers in the vineyard of truth, will miss by his removal a generous friend, a leader, and adviser. The deceased was twice married, and had four children by each marriage, all of whom are living   with the exception of the second son by the first marriage, who died in Victona in January last.   The eldest son is our respected fellow citizen, Mr. Justin McC Browne, and another son (the eldest     of the second marriage) is the Rev. W. H. Browne, LL.B, who, has been appointed Curate of St.     James's, Hatcham (near London) the Vicar of which is the Rev. A Tooth, who was some months ago imprisoned for disregarding an inhi- bition of the Bishop of Rochester to abstain from ritualistic practices. Two of the deceased's daughters are respectively married to His Honor Mr. Justice Dobson and Mr. Birnie, director of public works at Williamstown, Victoria. The other members of the family are unmarried. In concluding our notice we may mention that the late Archdeacon, though he was subjected to a severe attack of indigestion on Wednesday last, was much better on Friday, and his demise was therefore not altogether expected.

Mi. William Knight, merchant, expired at his residence, Sandy Bay, near Hobart Town, on Saturday, the 30th June. The deceased was a very     old colonist, having arrived in this country in 1827   in a vessel named the Hugh Crawford, commanded     by Captain Langdon. Mr. Knight was born in Ken- sington, in the county of Middlesex, in the year 1809, and his family was very highly connected, the father of the deceased having held the position of registrar of the above-named county. Soon after his arrival     in Hobart Town, Mr Knight having satisfied him-   self that there was an opening here for a commercial business, proceeded to England with a vlew to making       arrangements fr starting operations in this city in         that line. He lreturned to the colony in a vessel called     the Promise, partly owned by himself, and brought   with him a valuable cargo of general merchan-   dise. He immediately commenced business on, the Old Wharf, and his active commercial talents soon secured for him a huge connection. He continued to apply himself unremittingly to the develop- ment of that connection, and in the course of a few years he was reputed to be among the leading merchants of the city. In the year 1810 Mr. Knight married Miss Fletcher, daughter of Com-   missary General Fletcher, and granddaughter of Joseph Hone, brother of the well-known London   publisher, William Hone. By this marriage 10  

children were born, of whom eight - four sons and four daughters are now living. The deceased never took part in politics but he nevertheless felt a deep interest in some of the most important questions that agitated the colony between 20 and 30 years   ago, and especially in regard to the anti-transporta-     tion movement. He was as ardent opponent of the sudden cessation of transportaion, and advocated its gradual diminution so as not to check too pre-   cipitately the large Imperial expenditure on which   for a considerable length of time the colony had     mainly subsisted . He believed in the principle of   moderation and that only by acting upon that prin-    

ciple would the colony be able to accomodate itself     to the withdrawal of that expenditure. In com-       merciial circles. Mr Knight was regarded as a safe     authority. He was one of the principal shareholders     in the Derwent and Tamar Fire, Life, and Marine     Assurance Company, was for several years a director of the compan; and when he retired   from the Board, he received the public thanks of the shareholders for the energy he had dis- played in the successful management of their   affairs. Notwithstanding that retirement he con- tinued to take a lively interest in life assurance matters, as exemplified in his connection with the Australian Mutual Provident Company, Mr Knight       having taken the agency of that company in Tas-

mania while it was in its infancy, and, by constant     and unwearied attention to its affairs, brought it into the high position which it now occupies in the   confidence of the general public. The business     under his management had grown so extensively that a short time ago the Board of Directors in Sydney, with the concurrence of the deceased gentleman, appointed a board of local directors to superintend the operations   of the company in Tasmania, Mr Knight hold-     ing the position of a director of the board. The deceased was appointed a director of the Bank of Van Diemen's Land about 9 years ago and he con-       tinued to discharge the important duties of that position till within the last fortnight. He was a       man who never obtruded himself into public notoriety, but he did a vast amount of good in his   own quiet way; his aicts of unostentatious charity being extended in all directions, and his goodness   in very many cases being directed in such a way that its source was completely unknown to the   recipients.

The death of Mr. Jas Hurst, long lessee of the Government Coal Mines at Port Arthur,     took place at his residence, British Hotel, Liver-   pool street Hobart town, on the 28th June. Mr Hurst was a colonist of 40 years standing and was a native of Oldham, Lancashire. He has held         a lease of the coal mines for the last 29 years, pre-       vious to which he superintended them for the Government. He built the Swansea pier about   20 years ago, and his name has been brought     prominently before the public recently in connection wlth the Sandfly coal mines, which he was opening       up with a vlew to working. The Sandfly tramway,   for the purpose of conveying coal from the mines to North West Bay, is now in course of construction,   and a locomotive for this tramway has lately been     completed to Mr Hurst's order by Mr Clark of       the Excelsior Foundry . Notwithstanding Mr Hurst's demise this work will be proceeded with. The deceased was in his 73rd year. He leaves a widow, and three sons and two daughters.  

Among the music loving public of Tasmania and more especially that of the metropolis, no name was       more familiar in years gone by than that of Camille   Del Sarte. But it has now to be recorded on

the roll of the departed; for on Monday last the 2nd July, the distinguished music-master,   after a very short illness, breathed his last at his residence in Macquarie street, bronchitis being   the immediate cause of death. Camille Del     Sarte was a native of Paris but hu arrived in         this colony from the island of Java about 22   years ago. Soon after his arrival here he pur-   chased what now forms the residence of the   Venerable Archdeacon Davies and for some years       the deceased resided there. He had not been long     in Hobart Town before his name as a practical and       theoretical teacher of music became a household   word in Tasmania, and so rapid was his early suc-   cess in these branches of the divine art that in 1836 he had built for the purposes of his profession and at his own cost that substantial building in Har-

rington street, now known as the Oddfellows Hall, but which was originally known as Del Sarte's     Rooms. The speculation was not, however, the success its enterprising proprietor had antici- pated, and eventually he parted with the pro- perty. At the time of the volunteer movement Mons. Del Sarte held the position of band master in the Artillery corps and within the last     two years he was entrusted with the conductorship     of the Hobart Town City Band. About the year 1869 the deceased left Hobart Town and took up his abode in Sydney, and there for a time he had an   excellent practise. Unfortunately, however, he was           induced to enter into mining speculations and these turning out unremunerative, Mons. Del Sarte           lost a considerable sum of money. He remained in Sydney about seven years and only returned to Hobart Town between two and three years ago   Monsieur Del Suite was married, and we regret to   say he has left behind him a sorrowing widow and     five young children totally unprovided for. The deceased was about 60 years of age.  

Our Swansea correspondent writes -"Our town-    

ship has been thrown into a state of excitement during the week owing to the sudden death of J A Graham,Esq on Sunday, 24th June after about a   weeks illness in the 60th year of his age. He was       one of the ablest men in the district, and was in   business here for a great number of years."

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