Lord Castlerosse
(1825-1905)

Volume 1, page 149, sitting no. 798.

Valentine Browne, Viscount Castlerosse, sat in Parliament as the MP for Kerry from 1852 until he became the 4th Earl of Kenmare on the death of his father in 1871. He served as Comptroller of the Household to Queen Victoria (1856-1858), Vice-Chamberlain (1859-1865 and 1868-1872), and Lord Chamberlain (1880-1885). It was because of his position at court that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert paid their celebrated visit to Killarney and the lakes in August 1861, staying first at Kenmare House and then at Muckross.

In 1858 Lord Castlerosse married Gertrude Harriet, daughter of Lord Charles Thynne and granddaughter of the 2nd Marquess of Bath. Their marriage produced two sons and one daughter.

He died in London on 9 February 1905, aged 79. Lord Kenmare, who owned 18,000 acres, was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest and only surviving son, Valentine.