John Browning (or Brouning, or Brounyng) was born in about 1335 at Leigh by Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England, and married in about 1364 at Melbury Sampford in Dorsetshire to Alice Mautravers.
Melbury Sampford is a small estate parish in the Beaminster area of Dorset, sandwiched between Melbury Osmond and Evershot, seven miles South-West of Sherborne. It is thought the first part of the name ‘Melbury’ comes from the joining of two Old English words, ‘maele’ and ‘burh’, meaning ‘multi-coloured fortified place’, hinting at long forgotten battles in ancient times. The second part of the name is a Manorial addition in honour of the Saunford family, Lords of the Manor here from the late 13th century. In medieval times this place was often alternatively called Melbury Turbeville from the family of that name. By the 15th century, the Manor had passed to the Brouning family.
Henry Strangways married into the Brouning family, which brought him the House and Manor of Melbury Sampford, and his descendents continue to hold the estate to this day, although they are no longer in residence here. The Strangways family, one of Dorset’s most famous and influential, also held extensive property in Abbotsbury and Kilmington (Somerset). By the mid-18th century there were no further male heirs. Awarded an earldom in 1758 by George II, Stephen Fox added his mother’s maiden name to his surname to become Stephen Fox-Strangways, first Earl of Ilchester, and it is this branch of the family that inherited Melbury Sampford, the seat of the Earls of Ilchester until 1964.
Source: Dorset Online Parish Clerk Project: Melbury Sampford