26 Facts About Francis Browne

Francis Browne was decorated as a military chaplain during the First World War.

Francis Browne was born to a wealthy family in 1880 at Buxton House, Cork, Ireland, the youngest of the eight children of James and Brigid Browne.

Francis Browne died of puerperal fever eight days after Francis's birth.

Francis Browne spent his formative years at Bower Convent, Athlone, Belvedere College, Christian Brothers College, Cork, St Vincent's Castleknock College, graduating in 1897.

Francis Browne went on the aforementioned tour of Europe, where he began taking photographs.

Francis Browne attended the Royal University, Dublin, where he was a classmate of James Joyce, who featured him as Mr Browne the Jesuit in Finnegans Wake.

In 1909, he visited Rome with his uncle and brother, during which they had a private audience with Pope Pius X: the Pope allowed Francis Browne to take his photograph.

Francis Browne studied theology at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy in Dublin from 1911 to 1916.

Francis Browne travelled to Southampton via Liverpool and London, boarding the Titanic on the afternoon of 10 April 1912.

Francis Browne took dozens of photographs of life aboard Titanic on that day and the next morning; he shot pictures of the gymnasium, the Marconi room, the first-class dining saloon, his own cabin, and of passengers enjoying walks on the Promenade and Boat decks.

Francis Browne left the Titanic when she docked in Queenstown and returned to Dublin to continue his theological studies.

The Eastman Kodak company subsequently gave him free film for life and Francis Browne often contributed to The Kodak Magazine.

In 1916, the 36-year-old Francis Browne was sent to Europe to join the Irish Guards as a chaplain.

Francis Browne served with the Guards until the spring of 1920, including service at the Battle of the Somme and at Locre, Wytschaete, Messines Ridge, Passchendaele, Ypres, Amiens and Arras in Flanders.

Francis Browne was wounded five times during the war, once severely in a gas attack.

Francis Browne was awarded the Military Cross on 4 June 1917 "for distinguished service in the field".

Francis Browne was untiring in his efforts to succour the wounded during an attack.

Francis Browne was sent on an extended visit to Australia.

Francis Browne took his camera along, photographing life aboard ship and in Cape Town, South Africa, where he broke his voyage.

Francis Browne's work entailed preaching at missions and religious retreats all over Ireland; as most of this work was necessarily performed on evenings and Sundays, he had considerable time to indulge in his hobby during the daytime.

Francis Browne took photographs of many parishes and towns in Ireland, and photographed in London and East Anglia during his ecclesiastical travels to England.

Francis Browne died in Dublin in 1960 and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

Francis Browne's negatives lay forgotten for 25 years after his death; they were found by chance in 1985 when Father Edward E O'Donnell, SJ, discovered them in a large metal trunk, once belonging to Browne, in the Irish Jesuit archives.

The Irish province of the Jesuits, the owner of the negatives pursuant to Francis Browne's will, engaged photographic restoration specialists David and Edwin Davison to preserve and catalogue the fragile and unstable negatives.

Francis Browne became better known with his appearance on the commonest Irish postage stamp to mark the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic.

The twenty-fifth book of his photographs, Father Francis Browne's Laois, was produced in Dublin by Messenger Publications in October 2013.