Arthur, Edward and James Browne

As part of the Herald series of articles about WW1, the story was told of the four Browne brothers who died in WW1. All four died within a two year period.

A fifth brother, Edward or ‘Ted’, also served but came home safely.

Ted became the proprietor of the Piha boarding house in 1936 and ran it until 1941.

On first returning from the war, Ted and his wife Stella and children, regularly visited Karekare, and eventually started hosting cycling clubs who would do a run to the coast, stay overnight and cycle back.

When Ted Le Grice at Piha wanted to retire from running the Piha boarding house, Ted Browne stepped in, and the Brownes – Ted and his wife Stella – ran it successfully for some years.

Their son, Bill, ran a little store and the Post Office, and was well known for fossiking around the cliffs and caves of Piha, finding Maori relics and burials.

The Browne brothers memorial is prominent in the military section of Waikumete cemetery, a handsome granite obelisk.

Here’s the Herald story

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11305614