George James Bruere
Encyclopedia
George James Bruere was the British
Governor of Bermuda
from 1764 until his death.
Of all Bermuda's governors since 1612, his term of office was the longest.
He had a difficult time during the American Revolutionary War
and is thought to have died of stress
caused by the interplay of Bermudians and Continental rebels.
, England.
After an early career as a British Army
officer, Bruere was appointed as Governor of Bermuda in 1764. Previously serving in the Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
, he arrived in Bermuda on the Prince of Wales
in August 1764, bringing with him his wife and nine children.
He has been described as "a benign, simple and kindly man with a large family" and by the historian Sir John William Kaye
as "a staunch royalist... loyal to the core". However, Kaye reports further that
On taking up his appointment as Governor, Bruere was taken aback by the way slaves
were treated in the Bermuda islands. He made a speech to the House of Assembly of Bermuda
in 1766 in which he proposed the need for stricter controls, including "...haveing the Doors lock'd where they are, under the inspection of a white Person". Familiar with the control of slaves in other colonies, he advised the Bermudians:
On 21 March 1767, the House of Assembly resolved to appoint a Committee consisting of its Speaker
and eleven other members to address His Majesty the King
on "the tyranny and oppression of the Governor" if they deemed it necessary during the House's adjournment.
Bruere was interested in agriculture, and he and his wife bought 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) of land to the north of St George's
to grow grapes, hoping to produce the equivalent of Madeira
.
In 1775, after the Battle of Lexington, the Continental Congress
announced a trade embargo against British colonies remaining loyal to the Crown
. Bermuda offered to supply the Patriots
with salt, but they were unimpressed and asked for gunpowder
. Meanwhile, in June of 1775 Bruere lost his son John, who was killed fighting on the British side at the Battle of Bunker Hill
. On August 14, to the fury of Bruere, Bermudians sympathetic to the Revolution stole the island's supply of gunpowder from the Powder Magazine in St George's and shipped it to the rebels. Trade with Bermuda developed, for which Bruere was not blamed in London
.
On 20 August 1774, Bruere wrote to the Colonial Secretary
, the Earl of Dartmouth
, that some of Bermuda's planters were showing sympathy for the rebellion on the North American mainland:
In 1776, in the course of the American Revolutionary War
, Admiral Lord Howe
sent two Royal Navy
sloops of war, HMS Nautilus
and Galatea
, to Bermuda with the task of stopping the trade between Bermuda and the Colonies in rebellion. In 1777, American forces briefly seized control of the fort and battery near Wreck Hill on Bermuda's Somerset Island
, a strategic position for the protection of the West End Channel, one of the few passages through the ring of reefs. The Bermudian militia men retreated, and the Americans spiked the fort's guns and destroyed its walls before withdrawing. Between 1778 and 1780, Bruere commissioned several privateer
s, which were fitted out in Bermuda, "to cruise against the French, Spanish, and Americans".
Exhausted by his last years in office, Bruere became ill in July 1780, probably a result of chronic stress
, and he died in St George's on 10 September 1780, at the age of fifty-nine. He was later said by the historian Henry Wilkinson to be "the victim in the eyes of his family of five years of incessant strain and foul play", in particular caused by the dealings of the islanders with the rebel colonists. Perhaps because he was said to have died of yellow fever
, he was buried under the floor of St Peter's Church, St George's.
Sir John William Kaye noted that
Bruere was succeeded as Governor by his son, George Bruere (1744–1786), who as a lieutenant
in the 18th Regiment of Dragoons
had been wounded at Bunker Hill, and who in 1777 had married Martha Louisa Fatio, then aged fourteen. The younger Bruere was Lieutenant Governor of the Bermudas from 1780 to 1781.
A surviving portrait
of Bruere (pictured) is attributed to John Russell
, RA and now hangs in the Tucker House Museum, St. George's.
In 2008, Bruere's skeleton was unexpectedly found under the floorboards of St Peter's Church when archaeologists from Boston University
were searching for evidence of the foundations of the original church on the site, built in 1612. His wooden coffin had crumbled away, but a copper plate supposed to be from the top of the coffin was found in the skeleton's chest cavity, bearing the inscription "His Excellency / George James Bruere ESQr / Governor of Bermuda / And Lieut. Colol. In His/ Majestys Service OB / The 10 September 1780/ AE 59 Years". The vicar
of the church commented that he had no record of the funeral. From the bones, it was estimated that Bruere was 5 in 4 in (1.63 m), in height, which was about the average for the 18th century.
, 1775); Frederick; Elizabeth; Pendock; Frances (born 18 May 1749, Bermuda, died 20 November 1813, Cheltenham); Charlotte (born 1762, at Alderston, East Lothian, died 22 February 1827); and James (1765–1838).
Bruere's son William Bruere became Secretary to the Government of the Bengal Presidency
of British India and a member of the Council of India
. He married Anne Sadleir, and their daughter Nancy Sadleir Bruere married in 1804 William Otter
, later Principal of King's College London
and Bishop of Chichester
.
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
Governor of Bermuda
Governor of Bermuda
The Governor of Bermuda is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government...
from 1764 until his death.
Of all Bermuda's governors since 1612, his term of office was the longest.
He had a difficult time during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and is thought to have died of stress
Chronic stress
Chronic stress is the response to emotional pressure suffered for a prolonged period over which an individual perceives he or she has no control. It involves an endocrine system response in which occurs a release of corticosteroids...
caused by the interplay of Bermudians and Continental rebels.
Life
Born about 1721, on 17 July 1743 Bruere married Elizabeth Neale, daughter of Richard Neale by his marriage to Anne Pendock, in St Mary's Church, NottinghamNottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, England.
After an early career as a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer, Bruere was appointed as Governor of Bermuda in 1764. Previously serving in the Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, he arrived in Bermuda on the Prince of Wales
HMS Prince of Wales
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Prince of Wales, after numerous holders of the title the Prince of Wales. Another ship is planned:...
in August 1764, bringing with him his wife and nine children.
He has been described as "a benign, simple and kindly man with a large family" and by the historian Sir John William Kaye
John William Kaye
Sir John William Kaye was a British military historian.The son of Charles Kaye, a solicitor, he was educated at Eton College and at the Royal Military College, Addiscombe. From 1832 to 1841 he was an officer in the Bengal Artillery, afterwards spending some years in literary pursuits both in...
as "a staunch royalist... loyal to the core". However, Kaye reports further that
On taking up his appointment as Governor, Bruere was taken aback by the way slaves
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
were treated in the Bermuda islands. He made a speech to the House of Assembly of Bermuda
House of Assembly of Bermuda
The House of Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Bermuda. The house has 36 members, each elected for a five year term in a single seat constituencies....
in 1766 in which he proposed the need for stricter controls, including "...haveing the Doors lock'd where they are, under the inspection of a white Person". Familiar with the control of slaves in other colonies, he advised the Bermudians:
On 21 March 1767, the House of Assembly resolved to appoint a Committee consisting of its Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
and eleven other members to address His Majesty the King
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
on "the tyranny and oppression of the Governor" if they deemed it necessary during the House's adjournment.
Bruere was interested in agriculture, and he and his wife bought 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) of land to the north of St George's
St. George's, Bermuda
St. George's , located on the island and within the parish of the same names, was the first permanent settlement on the islands of Bermuda, and is often described as the third successful English settlement in the Americas, after St. John's, Newfoundland, and Jamestown, Virginia. However, St...
to grow grapes, hoping to produce the equivalent of Madeira
Madeira wine
Madeira is a fortified Portuguese wine made in the Madeira Islands. Some wines produced in small quantities in California and Texas are also referred to as "Madeira", or "Madera", although those wines do not conform to the EU PDO regulations...
.
In 1775, after the Battle of Lexington, the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
announced a trade embargo against British colonies remaining loyal to the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
. Bermuda offered to supply the Patriots
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
with salt, but they were unimpressed and asked for gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
. Meanwhile, in June of 1775 Bruere lost his son John, who was killed fighting on the British side at the Battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
. On August 14, to the fury of Bruere, Bermudians sympathetic to the Revolution stole the island's supply of gunpowder from the Powder Magazine in St George's and shipped it to the rebels. Trade with Bermuda developed, for which Bruere was not blamed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
On 20 August 1774, Bruere wrote to the Colonial Secretary
Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
, the Earl of Dartmouth
William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth
William Legge 2nd Earl of Dartmouth PC, FRS , styled as Viscount Lewisham from 1732 to 1750, was a British statesman who is most remembered for his part in the government before and during the American Revolution....
, that some of Bermuda's planters were showing sympathy for the rebellion on the North American mainland:
In 1776, in the course of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, Admiral Lord Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...
sent two Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
sloops of war, HMS Nautilus
HMS Nautilus
In addition to several other ships, ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Nautilus, after the Greek word for a sailor. was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1762 and put up for sale in 1780. was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1784 and wrecked in 1799. was a 14-gun brig-sloop built c. 1794 and...
and Galatea
HMS Galatea
HMS Galatea, after the Galatea of mythology, has been the name of eight ships in the British Royal Navy.*HMS Galatea was a 20-gun sixth-rate post-ship launched in 1776 and broken up in 1783....
, to Bermuda with the task of stopping the trade between Bermuda and the Colonies in rebellion. In 1777, American forces briefly seized control of the fort and battery near Wreck Hill on Bermuda's Somerset Island
Somerset Island, Bermuda
Somerset Island is one of the main islands of the chain that makes up Bermuda. It lies in the far west of the territory, and covers 2.84 square kilometres. It comprises about half of the parish of Sandys, and is the largest of a chain of islands which extend along the northwestern coast of the...
, a strategic position for the protection of the West End Channel, one of the few passages through the ring of reefs. The Bermudian militia men retreated, and the Americans spiked the fort's guns and destroyed its walls before withdrawing. Between 1778 and 1780, Bruere commissioned several privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s, which were fitted out in Bermuda, "to cruise against the French, Spanish, and Americans".
Exhausted by his last years in office, Bruere became ill in July 1780, probably a result of chronic stress
Stress (biology)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
, and he died in St George's on 10 September 1780, at the age of fifty-nine. He was later said by the historian Henry Wilkinson to be "the victim in the eyes of his family of five years of incessant strain and foul play", in particular caused by the dealings of the islanders with the rebel colonists. Perhaps because he was said to have died of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
, he was buried under the floor of St Peter's Church, St George's.
Sir John William Kaye noted that
Bruere was succeeded as Governor by his son, George Bruere (1744–1786), who as a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the 18th Regiment of Dragoons
18th Royal Hussars
The 18th Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first formed in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated into the 13th/18th Hussars in 1922....
had been wounded at Bunker Hill, and who in 1777 had married Martha Louisa Fatio, then aged fourteen. The younger Bruere was Lieutenant Governor of the Bermudas from 1780 to 1781.
A surviving portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
of Bruere (pictured) is attributed to John Russell
John Russell (painter)
John Russell was an English painter renowned for his portrait work in oils and pastels, and as a writer and teacher of painting techniques.-Life and work:...
, RA and now hangs in the Tucker House Museum, St. George's.
In 2008, Bruere's skeleton was unexpectedly found under the floorboards of St Peter's Church when archaeologists from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
were searching for evidence of the foundations of the original church on the site, built in 1612. His wooden coffin had crumbled away, but a copper plate supposed to be from the top of the coffin was found in the skeleton's chest cavity, bearing the inscription "His Excellency / George James Bruere ESQr / Governor of Bermuda / And Lieut. Colol. In His/ Majestys Service OB / The 10 September 1780/ AE 59 Years". The vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of the church commented that he had no record of the funeral. From the bones, it was estimated that Bruere was 5 in 4 in (1.63 m), in height, which was about the average for the 18th century.
Children
Bruere had at least nine children: William; George (ca. 1744–1786); John (killed at the Battle of Bunker HillBattle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
, 1775); Frederick; Elizabeth; Pendock; Frances (born 18 May 1749, Bermuda, died 20 November 1813, Cheltenham); Charlotte (born 1762, at Alderston, East Lothian, died 22 February 1827); and James (1765–1838).
Bruere's son William Bruere became Secretary to the Government of the Bengal Presidency
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency originally comprising east and west Bengal, was a colonial region of the British Empire in South-Asia and beyond it. It comprised areas which are now within Bangladesh, and the present day Indian States of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya, Orissa and Tripura.Penang and...
of British India and a member of the Council of India
Council of India
The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.The original Council of India was established by the Regulating Act of 1773 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William...
. He married Anne Sadleir, and their daughter Nancy Sadleir Bruere married in 1804 William Otter
William Otter
The Right Reverend William Otter was the first Principal of King's College London who later served as Bishop of Chichester. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge where he was later made a fellow...
, later Principal of King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
and Bishop of Chichester
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...
.