Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many 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. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

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

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

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 Thomas Williams (Royal Navy officer), Si ...

Early life

Born the second son of Sir Henry Hervey Aston Bruce, 1st Baronet and the former Letitia Barnard (a daughter of Rev. Dr. Henry Barnard and Mary Canning). His elder brother was Sir James Bruce, 2nd Baronet. His maternal uncle was Gen. Sir

Andrew Barnard General Sir Andrew Francis Barnard (1773 – 17 January 1855) was an Irish British Army officer. He served in various capacities in the West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, Canada, the Netherlands, Sicily, Spain and in the Napoleonic Wars inc ...

Career

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 was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

in 1805. He also took part in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. 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 Preventive Squadron, was a squadron of the Royal Navy whose goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed in 1808 after the British Parliament passed ...

. 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 Jua ...

. He was appointed

in 1860.

Personal life

In 1822 he married Jane Cochrane, daughter of Adm. Hon. Sir

Alexander Cochrane Admiral Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, GCB (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admi ...

(a son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald). Before her death in 1830, they were the parents of:Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish geneal ...

, 2003, volume 1, page 508. * Alexander Hervey Bruce (d. 1874), a Lt.-Col. in the

Bengal Staff Corps Bengal ( ) is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between the modern-d ...

who married Elizabeth Julia Mackinnon. * Henry Stewart Beresford Bruce (1824–1908), a Lt.-Col. in the 2nd Lancashire Militia who married Marriette Hill, daughter of John Hill of Bellaghy Castle,

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, in 1846. After her death in 1886, he married her sister, Frances Jane Augusta ( Hill) Moran, widow of Edward Moran, in 1894. In 1832, following the death of his first wife, he married Louisa Mary Minchin Dalrymple, a daughter of Col. George Dalrymple. Together, they were the parents of: * James Minchin Bruce (1833–1901), a Rear-Admiral who married Elizabeth Lucas Hill, daughter of John Hill, in 1856. 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. T ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He died in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 14 December 1863 while still serving as a naval officer and was interred in the family vault at Downhill in

Legacy

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

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

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

parish churchyard. "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

Early life

Career

Personal life

Legacy

References

See also