George Browne

George Browne, Count von Browne in the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire (15 June 1698 – 18 February 1792), was an Irish soldier of fortune who became full general in the Russian service. Browne was descended from a family that could trace its descent to the time of William the Conqueror, and had settled in Ireland at a very early period. His immediate ancestors were the Brownes of Camas, Limerick, where he was born 15 June 1698. He was educated at Limerick diocesan school. A Catholic and a Jacobite, Browne, like several of his other relations, sought scope for his ambition in a foreign military career (Flight of the Wild Geese). In his twenty-seventh year he entered the service of the Electoral Palatinate, from which he passed in 1730 to that of Russian Empire. He distinguished himself in the Polish, French, and Turkish wars, and had risen to the rank of general, with the command of 30,000 men, when he was taken prisoner by the Turks. After being sold three times as a slave to an Albanian, he obtained his freedom through the intervention of the French ambassador Villeneuve, at the instance of the Russian court, and, remaining for some time at Constantinople in his slave's costume, succeeded in discovering important state secrets which he carried to Saint Petersburg. In recognition of this special service Browne was raised by Anna to the rank of major-general, and in this capacity accompanied General Lacy on his first expedition to Finland. On the outbreak of the Swedish war his tactical skill was displayed to great advantage in checking Swedish attacks on Livonia. In the Seven Years' War he rendered important assistance as lieutenant-general under his cousin Maximilian Ulysses, Reichsgraf von Browne.