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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

East and West Africa (1) 1891-2 (W. C. Browning, A.B., H.M.S. Racer);
QSA (6) Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast (136960 P-O: W. C. Browning, H.M.S. Monarch);
Naval LS&GC Ed VII (W. C. Browning, Act. C.P.O., H.M.S. Medea)

Noonan's say only 63 six-clasp Queen’s South Africa medals to the Royal Navy, including 50 to Monarch.

Acting Chief Petty Officer William Charles Browning was born at Crewkerne, Somerset, in January 1871 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard HMS Impregnable, aged 15 years. Advanced to Boy 1st Class in April 1887, to Ordinary Seaman in January 1889 and to Leading Seaman in February 1890, he joined HMS Racer in April 1891. In this latter ship he was landed with the Naval Brigade sent to punish Chief Fodeh Cabbah. Further promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class in November 1895 and to Petty Officer 1st Class in March 1897, he next saw active service in HMS Monarch, which ship he joined in July of the latter year. Landed for service with the Naval Brigade in the Boer War, he saw extensive service which qualified him for a six-clasp medal. Awarded his LS&GC medal and advanced to Acting Chief Petty Officer in 1904, Browning was invalided ashore in February 1909, suffering from ‘mental deficiency’. A closing statement on his Service Record states that his name was put forward for financial assistance from the Royal Patriotic Fund.