A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Brace, Francis
BRACE. (Captain, 1827. f-p., 18; h-p., 24.)
Francis Brace is nephew of the late Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Brace, K.C.B., who died Commander-in-Chief at the Nore in Dec. 1843; also of Admiral Stephen Poynta; and cousin of Capt. Herbert Brace Powell, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 5 March, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Boy, on board the Iris 32, commanded by his uncle, Capt. Edw. Brace, with whom, after cruizing for some months off Ferrol and Corunna, he removed to La Virginie, of 46 guns and 281 men. In that ship, during a servitude of four years and a half on the North Sea and Cork stations, he contributed, as Midshipman, to the capture of two Spanish privateers of 14 guns each, and, 19 May, 1808, of the Dutch frigate Guelderland, of 36 guns and 253 men, after an obstinate conflict of an hour and a half, in which the enemy’s loss amounted to 25 killed and 50 wounded, and that of the British to only 1 killed and 2 wounded. He next, in March, 1810, joined the Clyde 38, bearing the broad pendant at Flushing of Commodore Sir E. W. C. R. Owen; was transferred, in Sept. following, as Master’s Mate, to the St. Albans 64, Capt. Edw. Brace, employed for a whole twelvemonth at the defence of Cadiz; was wrecked shortly after his removal to the Ephera fire-ship, Capt. Thos. Eyerard, on the Porpoises, near Cadiz, 26 Dec. 1811; then rejoined his uncle in the Berwick 74, in which he passed his examination early in 1812; and, after an attachment of some months to the Caledonia 120, flagship in the Mediterranean of Sir Edward Pellew, was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant 5 Feb. . His subsequent appointments, in the latter capacity, were – 20 March following, again to the Berwick, commanded, as before, by Capt. E. Brace, off Toulon and the coast of Italy – 14 Oct. 1814, to the Menai 26, Capt. Watkin Owen Pell, on Channel service – 15 April, 1815, to the Pique 36, Capt. Hon. Anth. Maitland, fitting at Portsmouth – 16 July, 1816, to the Prince Regent 56, as Flag-Lieutenant to Commodore Sir Robert Hall, on the lakes of Canada – 21 Sept. ensuing, to the acting-command of the Netley 10, on Lake Ontario – and, 15 Sept. 1817, to the Sybille 48, Capt. Chas. Malcolm, with whom he served in the West Indies, under the flag of Sir Home Popham, until the receipt of his second commission, 7 Dec. 1818. On 28 Sept. 1824, Capt. Brace obtained command of the Gannet 18, in which we find him effecting the capture of a smuggling lugger on the coast of Ireland 1 Feb. 1825, and subsequently, up the Mediterranean, of three piratical vessels, as also the destruction of a fourth. Attaining Post-rank, 14 Aug. 1827, he commanded, from 19 June, 1837, until superseded, 2 Sept. following, the Donegal 78, fitting at Plymouth; and was Flag-Captain to Sir Edw. Brace in the Camperdown 104, from 16 Dec. 1841, until the death of that Gallant officer in Dec. 1843. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Brace married, 15 April, 1833, Elizabeth, daughter of John Middleton, Esq., of Clifton, and has issue.