Dates

• Existence: 1821 - 1885

Biography

James "Snyder" Browne was born in London on 26 May 1821. He arrived at the Otago gold-fields in 1861 by way of Brazil, Tasmania and the Victorian gold-fields. On the gold-fields he took up journalism where his acid pen made him a favourite correspondent and columnist throughout New Zealand, and he edited newspapers on the West Coast and for a brief time at Whakamarina in Marlborough. Browne later edited the 'New Zealand Herald' in Auckland followed by a term as proprietor of the 'Coromandel Mail'. From about 1873 until 1878 Browne edited the 'Poverty Bay Standard' and afterwards the 'Poverty Bay Herald'. When he retired from active journalism in about 1881 he set up business in Gisborne as an auctioneer and commission agent and was a bookseller and stationer when he died. He died in Gisborne on 5th November 1885 from an attack of jaundice. Under the pseudonym of "Snyder", Browne for many years contributed lively, facile commentaries on colonial life which were syndicated throughout New Zealand. About 1870 "Snyder" published some thirty five articles entitled, "Reminiscences in the life of a colonial journalist" based on some lectures given at the Mechanics Institute in Auckland, which cover his memory of personalities and events in Tasmania and the Victorian gold-fields, Otago, the West Coast and other parts of New Zealand.

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