Writer and humorist, born in Waterford, Maine, USA. In a series of Cleveland Plain Dealer letters (1857--9) purportedly written by Artemus Ward, this newspaperman created the blustery character through whom he satirized contemporary society. These letters, followed by an endless series he concocted to describe everything he saw or thought, were part of the ongoing American tradition of "unlettered' colloquial writing that culminated in Mark Twain's work. Browne joined Vanity Fair's staff (1859) and after 1861 toured the USA and England impersonating Ward (and incidentally inventing the comic lecture). He died of tuberculosis while on a lecture tour in England.