Lieutenant George W. Brande (c1784-1854)
Naval Officer in Bombay Marine [HEIC], later Chief Clerk of the Treasury; Secretary to the Commissioners of Colonial Audit.
George William Brande was commissioned as a midshipman on 27 February 1803 and served initially on the Bombay Marine ship the Mornington [24 guns], later becoming a Lieutenant. The Bombay Marine was the naval force of the Honourable East India Company (HEIC).
Brande had left England in August 1802 on board the 808-ton private merchant ship Caledonia. After reaching the Cape of Good Hope in late November he sailed on to Bengal on 1 December and arrived in Calcutta on 14 February 1803. Brande was approximately 18 years of age.
Brande was serving on board the Bombay Marine brig Grappler in late August 1806 when it was captured off the west coast of India on voyage to Calcutta, by the 46-gun French frigate la Piémontaise under the command of Captain Louis Jacques Epron (1768-1841). The Piémontaise was one of a fleet of French warships and privateers based at the Ile de France (Mauritius) that were highly successful in intercepting ships operating in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Persian Gulf. For two years, between 1806-1808, la Piémontaise cruised the Indian Ocean capturing HEIC and 'country trade' vessels.
The captured crew and passengers of the Grappler were granted 'paroles' as prisoners of war and placed on board an Arab-owned ship called the Allamany which was then instructed to sail for Madras. It arrived there on Monday 15 September and soon afterwards continued on to Calcutta. Amongst the passengers were Lieutenant G.W. Brande and Assistant-Surgeon William Thomas who arrived in Calcutta in late September.
In December 1806 Brande and Thomas departed for Bombay on board the ship Northumberland and arrived in mid-February 1807. Both men must have quickly availed themselves of the opportunity to join Lachlan Macquarie on his planned return trip to Britain and they departed on 18 March on board the Bombay Marine cruizer Benares for the Persian Gulf.
In 1807 Brande was approximately 23 years of age. He later became a senior Treasury official in the British civil service. He died on 18 June 1854 at Exeter.
