Henry Bruce (Royal Navy officer, born 1792)

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Sir Henry Bruce
Born2 February 1792 (1792-02-02)
Died14 December 1863 (1863-12-15) (aged 71)
Liverpool, United Kingdom
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branchNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Royal Navy
Years of service1803–1863
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Britannia
HMS Imogene
HMS Agincourt
HMS Queen
Pacific Station
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsCrimean War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Memorial to Admiral Henry Bruce, North Berwick Churchyard

Admiral Sir Henry William Bruce KCB (2 February 1792 – 14 December 1863) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

Military career[]

Born the son of Sir Henry Hervey Aston Bruce, 1st Baronet, Bruce joined the Royal Navy in 1803.[1] He took part in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.[1] He also took part in the War of 1812.[1] He became Captain of HMS Britannia in 1823, of HMS Imogene in 1836, of HMS Agincourt in 1842 and of HMS Queen in 1847.[2]

In 1851 he was appointed Commodore of the West Africa Squadron.[1] He negotiated and signed the Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos of 1 January 1852.[3] Then in 1854, as Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station, he founded a military hospital at Esquimalt.[1] He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1860.[4]

He lived at Ballyscullion in Northern Ireland.[5] He died in Liverpool while still serving as a naval officer and was interred in the family vault at Downhill in Northern Ireland.[6]

He is memorialised on the family gravestone in the south-east corner of North Berwick parish churchyard.[7]

Family[]

In 1822 he married Jane Cochrane.[5] In 1832, following the death of his first wife, he married Louisa Mary Minchin Dalrymple.[5]

Legacy[]

Sir Henry William Bruce silver plate and sword in Bruce Neuk at the Britannia Yacht Club in Ottawa, Ontario

"This piece of silver plate was presented to Sir Henry William Bruce by his Captains, Commanders, and Lieutenants in 1854 as a token of their grateful sense of his uniform, kindness and consideration to themselves, the officers and ship's companies under their command, during the period they had the pleasure of serving under him on the West Coast of Africa".[8]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e Admiral Sir Henry William Bruce Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Naval & Military Museum
  2. ^ William Loney RN
  3. ^ Smith, Robert (January 1979). The Lagos Consulate 1851-1861. Macmillan. pp. 135–137. ISBN 9780520037465.
  4. ^ History in Portsmouth Archived 27 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b c The Peerage.com
  6. ^ Scottish War Graves Project
  7. ^ See picture
  8. ^ Sir Henry W Bruce silver plate and sword in the Bruce Neuk at the Britannia Yacht Club, Ottawa, Ontario

See also[]

Military offices
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station
1854–1857 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth
1860–1863 		Succeeded by
Sir Michael Seymour
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