A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of four awarded to Captain H. A. E. Browne, Royal Engineers

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse contemporarily engraved ‘Capt. H. A. E. Browne, R.E.’; 1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. H. A. E. Browne. R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. H. A. E. Browne) minor contact marks, very fine (4) £700-£900

M.C. London Gazette 4 June 1917.

Hugh Alexander Edgar Browne was born in Belfast on 21 June 1885, the sixth child of John Monteagle Brown of Tullycarnet, Ardgless, formerly of Knock, Belfast, and upon leaving school qualified as an architect and civil engineer, being employed as a member of the family firm Browne Brothers, architects and civil engineers of Tullycarnan. Emigrating to Canada, Browne decided to return to England in 1915 and join the Army and ‘to follow the example of his brothers, one of whom was serving with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, another of whom commanded a battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, and a third of whom served with the Royal Artillery. He returned to the U.K. aboard the Cunard liner R.M.S. Lusitania, arriving at Liverpool on 11 April 1915, less than a month before the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat.

Commission Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, Browne served during the Great War on the Western Front from 5 November 1915 with the 9th Field Company. Serving as part of 4th Division, the 9th witnessed extensive service at Albert from 1-13 July 1916 and Le Transloy from 1-18 October 1918. They witnessed considerable action at Polygon Wood from 26 September-3 October 1917 and were heavily engaged in operations around Drocourt-Queant and the Canal Du Nord. For his services during the Great War he was advanced Captain and awarded the Military Cross.

Following the cessation of hostilities Browne and his wife returned to Canada, where he was employed by the City of Vancouver as a civil engineer, being promoted to Assistant Engineer for the City in 1948. He died in Vancouver on 14 August 1962, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery.

Sold with copied research, including a photographic image of the recipient in later life, together with a contemporary Royal Engineers brass cap badge.