 He 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 (née Hegarty) Browne.His mother was the niece of William Hegarty, Lord Mayor of Cork, and a cousin of Sir Daniel Hegarty, the first Lord Mayor of Cork.