The TOD family tree:Information about George BRUERE
George BRUERE (b. Abt. 1744, d. 02 Sep 1786)
Notes for George BRUERE:George Bruere had been born in 1744. During the Seven Years War he served in the 14th.Foot, went on half-pay in 1763 and accompanied his father to Bermuda in 1764 when the latter became Governor there. He resumed active service as a Lieutenant 4/2/1769 in the 18th.Foot (Royal Irish) in which his elder brother John was already serving. He was in garrison in Philadelphia 1772; at the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) he was wounded and his brother killed. While convalescing he spent some time in London as Agent for his father following the 'Stolen Gunpowder' Affair. Next year he transferred into the 3rd.Bn.60th.Foot (Royal American) as Captain, joining them at St.Augustine at which time he presumably met and married Louisa, whose brother Francis Philip (2) was in the 4th. Bn. of the same regiment.
According to G.L'Engle he was already 'a widower with three daughters, whose mother had been a lady of rank and title'; no firm details are known of this marriage, but there is a strong possibility that she was a member of the Moultrie family, who held land in Florida before the Revolution. After the end of the war John Moultrie (1729-1798) who had remained loyal to the Crown, left for England and Aston Hall in Shropshire, which his wife Eleanor, daughter of George Austin, inherited after her brother died without issue. John Moultrie, his sister and his half-sister were witnesses at Martha's second marriage, so it would seem that she was married from their house; and a letter to her father in 1795 indicates that she was still in touch with the Moultrie family.
In 1779 George was wounded at Beauford, and again returned to England to convalesce. Henry Tucker, a member of the prominent Bermuda family who were in constant opposition to the Brueres (though the Governor's daughter had married into it herself) was in London at the same time and writes to his son George in a letter headed 'London Adelphi Dec. 27th. 1779':
'Geo. Bruere and his wife are here, he is a Captain, I've not seen him, tho' I am very intimate with his Uncles and with his sister Charlotte who is a fine young lady'.
In 1780 George was appointed Lieutenant - Governor to his father, but had not returned to the Island before George James died in office (10/9/80). As Acting Governor he continued his father's policy of strict loyalty to the Crown and was soon just as unpopular with the Islanders, many of whom were in sympathy with the Congress. Bruere had hoped to succeed his father, but his hopes were dashed by the Appointment of William Browne, a Loyalist from Salem (Mass.), and he returned to England in 1782 to look after the host of lawsuits with which the colonists had dogged the family. In the Army List of 1786 he appears as Captain of one of the two Independent Companies of Invalids in Fort George, Scotland (a stark contrast to the areas of his previous service) - John Hallowes being then with his regiment at Edinburgh where Lord Elphinstone, nominally C/O of the other Fort George Company,was Lieutenant-Governor of the Castle. Bruere actually signed the Muster Roll at Fort George (PRO WO/12/11601) for the half-year to 24/12/ 1785, having been appointed to the command in the previous period but not yet joined; at the next return he is on leave, and listed as died in the one subsequent.
Charlotte had meanwhile married Alexander Todd of Alderston, a district of Haddington in East Lothian; and George died at their house on September 2nd, 1786 (The Gentleman's Magazine in reporting this misprints the place name as 'Alderton').. He died intestate leaving less than £100 for which Louisa was granted Letters of Administration.
Contents
More About George BRUERE:
Military service: 1776, Captain 3rd.Bn.60th.Foot (Royal American).
Will: 1786, Died intestate.
More About George BRUERE and Martha Louisa FATIO:
Marriage: 1777
Record Change: 25 Jan 2004
Children of George BRUERE and ? MOULTRIE are: