Cecil Browning had a long, if not outstanding, racquets career. He first took part in the Amateur Doubles Championship in 1902 and bowed out 35 years later. The son of a chartered accountant, Browning followed his father into the profession. He was educated at Harrow and in 1902, with Gerard Phelips, won the Public Schools Championship. At the 1908 Olympics he lost in the first round of the singles to the eventual champion Evan Noel but won the doubles silver medal with Edmond Bury after losing to Vane Pennell and John Jacob Astor in the final.
During World War I Browning served with the Royal Flying Corps. He died on 23 March 1953, the same day that an announcement appeared in The Times newspaper saying that Browning and his wife were moving from London to Hove on the south coast of England on 25 March. Sadly, he never made it.