Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir Henry William Bruce (2 February 1792 – 14 December 1863) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer who went on to be

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succe ...

Military career

Born the son of Sir Henry Hervey Aston Bruce, 1st Baronet, Bruce joined the

in 1803.Admiral Sir Henry William Bruce
Naval & Military Museum He took part in the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

in 1805. He also took part in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. He became Captain of HMS ''Britannia'' in 1823, of HMS ''Imogene'' in 1836, of HMS ''Agincourt'' in 1842 and of HMS ''Queen'' in 1847. In 1851 he was appointed Commodore of the

West Africa Squadron The West Africa Squadron, also known as the Preventative Squadron, was a squadron of the British Royal Navy whose goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed in 1808 after the British Parliame ...

. He negotiated and signed the Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos of 1 January 1852. Then in 1854, as Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station, he founded a military hospital at

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de ...

. He was appointed

in 1860. He lived at

Ballyscullion Ballyscullion () is a small village and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 291 people. The civil parish of Ballyscullion covers areas of County Antrim as well as County Londonderry. Th ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

.The Peerage.com
/ref> He died in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

while still serving as a naval officer and was interred in the family vault at

Downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

. He is memorialised on the family gravestone in the south-east corner of

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on th ...

parish churchyard.

Family

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

Legacy

Sir Henry W Bruce silver plate and sword in Bruce Neuk at the Britannia Yacht Club

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

Military career

Family

Legacy

References

See also