
Tom Branson (1884-) was an Irishman who served as estate manager for Downton Abbey, Yorkshire during the early 20th century.
biography[]
Tom Branson was born in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland in 1884, the brother of Kieran Branson. He worked as a chauffeur in Ireland before coming to find the job boring due to his mistress' preference for low-speed driving, and, in May 1913, he was hired as the chauffeur of Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham at Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, England. During his time at Downton Abbey, he furthered his interests in politics and history by borrowing books from Lord Grantham's library, and, when he discovered Sybil Crawley's interest in politics, he radicalized her into a socialist. During World War I, he was rejected from the British Army for a heart murmur, having intended to be a conscientious objector anyways. His Irish nationalist views became even more profound after one of his cousins was shot by the British during Dublin's 1916 Easter Rising on suspicion of being a rebel. Branson was narrowly stopped from pouring slop over the head of the visiting British Army general Herbert Strutt during a formal dinner. In 1918, he and Sybil eloped to Gretna Green to get married, and Lord Grantham agreed to part with Branson as friends, giving him some money and warning him against mistreating his daughter. Branson and Sybil married in 1919 and moved to Ireland. There, Sybil died in childbirth in 1920, producing a daughter, Sybbie. Branson moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1925, but he later returned to Downton and became its estate manager on his predecessor's resignation. Branson remarried to Lucy Smith, the illegitimate daughter of a noblewoman, in 1927.