text: John Browning was born around 1831 in Kent, England, the city recorded variously as Bexley or Welling. His father, William Spencer Browning, was a maker of nautical instruments. It has been speculated that his shop inspired that of the character Solomon Gills, the ships instrument maker, in the 1848 novel Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. John Browning hailed from a long line of English instrument makers. His great-grandfather was instrument maker John Browning, brother of Samuel Browning, of the firms Spencer & Browning and Spencer, Browning & Rust, manufacturers of navigational instruments. The latter firm was in operation in London from 1784 to 1840, and was succeeded by the firm of Spencer, Browning & Co. Several sources indicate that John Brownings great-grandson John Browning resided in Sevenoaks, Kent.