An yi masa baftisma a ranar 14 ga Yuni, 1812, a Lock's Fields Independent Chapel, York Street, Walworth, ɗan ɗayan Sarah Anna (née Wiedemann) da Robert Browning. Mahaifinsa ya kasance ma'aikacin da aka biya da kyau ga Bankin Ingila, yana samun kusan £ 150 a kowace shekara. Kakan Browning na mahaifinsa ya kasance mai mallakar bayi a Saint Kitts, West Indies, amma mahaifin Browning ya kasance mai kawar da shi. An aika mahaifin Browning zuwa West Indies don yin aiki a kan shuka na sukari, amma saboda wani bawan, wanda ya zauna a can, ya koma Ingila.
Goma sha shida