Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo

Jeremy Ulick Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo (4 June 1939 – 13 July 2014),[1] styled Earl of Altamont until 1991, was an Irish hereditary peer and businessman. On the death of his father he was entitled to sit in the House of Lords by virtue of the subsidiary title Baron Mounteagle, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. However, he never took his seat and lost the right with the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999.[2]

Biography

Jeremy Browne Altamont was the eldest son of Denis Browne, 10th Marquess of Sligo. He was educated at St. Columba's College, Dublin, and the Royal Agricultural College. Prior to inheriting his title, Browne, then the Earl of Altamont, and his father worked to stabilise the future of the family estate, Westport House, amid a slump in agricultural prices which had plagued Ireland during the 1960s. Westport was the first stately home in the country to open to the public and continues to be a major tourist attraction.

During The Troubles, the estate was invaded by IRA supporters who waved black flags in support of the 1981 Irish hunger strike, a situation which Altamont was able to diplomatically and quickly defuse. In May 2014 his book, A Life at Westport House: 50 Years A-Going, was released.[3]

He was married on 26 October 1961 to Jennifer June Lushington Cooper, daughter of Derek Cooper. Lady Sligo is the stepdaughter of the former Viscountess Ruthven of Canberra, and her father became in 1952 the stepfather of two young stepsons, now the present Earl of Gowrie and his brother the journalist and Islamic scholar Malise Ruthven. The Marquess and Marchioness had five daughters. After his death, his daughters inherited the family estate of Westport while his cousin Sebastian succeeded him as Marquess.

Lord Sligo introduced a private members' Bill in Dáil Éireann in 1990 to allow the dissolution of a family trust which would have prevented his five daughters from inheriting Westport House.[4]

References
  1. ALTAMONT/Westport/Mayo Notice of death of Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo, RIP.ie; accessed 15 July 2014.
  2. Bedford, M. (1999). Dod's Parliamentary Companion (118 ed.). Westminster: Vacher Dod Publishing, p. 379, 486.
  3. Westport House bookshop website, westporthouse.ie; accessed 15 July 2014.
  4. "Visionary heir who saved Westport House". The Irish Times. 26 July 2014.
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Denis Browne		 Marquess of Sligo
1991–2014		 Succeeded by
Sebastian Browne
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