An astronomer, Browning was also Optical and Physical Instrument Maker to Her Majestys Government. As such, he supplied telescopes to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Browning also attached spectroscopes to telescopic equipment, garnering the attention of astronomical physicists J. Norman Lockyer and William Huggins. He was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1865. Browning was a pioneer in the manufacture of reflecting telescopes and bringing them to the attention of astronomers. As the popularity of astronomy grew during the 19th century, his business in telescopes flourished. An advocate of the Newtonian reflector, he was the author of A Plea for Reflectors, Being a Description of the New Astronomical Telescopes With Silvered-glass Specula, first published in 1867. By 1876, the book was in its sixth printing. Browning wrote many articles for the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, including a series on Jupiters equatorial belt about 1870. Browning was a perfectionist, a trait that in at least one instance had unfortunate consequences. When he delayed in providing Lockyer with a spectroscope until it performed to his high standards, Lockyer missed the opportunity of being the first astronomer to observe a prominence on the uneclipsed sun. While the delay was only partially responsible for Lockyer's missed opportunity, there is evidence that Browning long regretted his reluctance to part with the spectroscope in question. Browning made a number of instruments for Lockyer, among them an 8-inch reflecting telescope that was delivered to Lockyer in 1871 and now greets visitors near the main door of the Norman Lockyer Observatory in Sidmouth, Devon. Toward the late 1860s, in his quest to produce telescopes for a growing market, Browning collaborated with George Henry With (1827–1904), former schoolmaster at the Blue Coat School in Hereford. With was talented at producing high quality, large reflecting mirrors.