William Denis Browne, Hood Battalion, RND
1888-1915
When Brooke died of septicaemia from a mosquito bite just before the landings took place, Denis Browne was sitting with him and wrote a well-known account of his death and burial.
Browne himself was killed less than two months later at the Third Battle of Krithia on 4th June 1915. He left a note for Professor Dent at Cambridge as he was dying on the battlefield
"My dear Dent If anyone’s to sift my manuscript music, will you? It’s all rubbish except Gratiana, (perhaps) Salathiel Pavey [songs] & the Comic Spirit [a ballet].
It's a pity there’s no more. There would have been if there had been time.....
‘Many would claim Gratiana as one of the half-dozen best songs in the English repertoire…’ (Trevor Hold, 2002)
