Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/230

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Brander
218
Brandon

hands of a medical student. His ‘Dictionary of Science and Art,’ of which he became the editor in 1842, was a laborious undertaking, supplying a serious want. He was engaged in revising a new edition of this work when death brought his active life to a close.

During forty-six years Brande laboured most industriously in the front ranks of science. Although, unlike his friends Davy and Faraday, he failed to connect his name with any important discovery, he aided in the development of several branches of science, and by his earnest truthfulness—preferring demonstration to speculation—he fitted himself for an important position at a time when science was undergoing remarkable changes.

[Dr. Bence-Jones in Proceedings of Royal Institution; Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xvi. pt. ii. and Catalogue of Scientific Papers, i. 564; Quarterly Journal of Science, iv. 1818–1822; Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy.]

R. H-t.


BRANDER, GUSTAVUS (1720–1787), merchant and antiquary, descended from a Swedish family, was born in London in 1720, and brought up to trade, which he carried on with great success in the City. For many years he was a director of the Bank of England. Having inherited the fortune of his uncle, Mr. Spicker, he employed much of his wealth in forming collections of literary interest. Among his principal curiosities was the magnificent chair in which the first emperor of Germany was said to have been crowned. Engraved upon it in polished iron were scenes from Roman history, from the earliest times to the foundation of the empire. Brander was a fellow of the Royal Society, a curator of the British Museum, and one of the first supporters of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. While he lived in London in partnership with Mr. Spalding, his library and pictures narrowly escaped the flames which destroyed their house in White Lion Court, Cornhill, on 7 Nov. 1766. Thence he removed to Westminster, and at length into Hampshire, where he purchased the site of the old priory at Christchurch. Having completed his villa and gardens in this beautiful spot, he married, in 1780, Elizabeth, widow of John Lloyd, vice-admiral of the blue, daughter of Mr. Gulston of Widdial, Hertfordshire. In the winter of 1786 he had just completed the purchase of a house in St. Alban's Street, London, when he was seized with an illness which carried him off on 21 Jan. 1787.

To him the British Museum is indebted for a collection of fossils found in the cliffs about Christchurch and the coast of Hampshire. Copper-plate engravings of them, executed by Green, and accompanied by a scientific Latin description by Dr. Solander, were published in a volume entitled 'Fossilia Hantoniensia collecta, et in Museo Britannico deposita, à Gustavo Brander,' 1766. Brander communicated an account of the effect of lightning on the Danish church in Wellclose Square to the 'Philosophical Transactions' (xliv. 298); and from a manuscript in his possession Dr. Pegge printed in 1780, for private circulation, 'The Forme of Cury. A Roll of antient English Cookery, compiled about the year 1390.'

[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. vi. 260 and index; Addit. MS. 29533, f. 55; Ayscough's Cat. of the Sloane and Birch MSS. 743, 908.]

T. C.

BRANDON, CHARLES, Duke of Suffolk (d. 1545), was the son and heir of William Brandon, who was Henry VII's standard-bearer at Bosworth Field, and was on that account singled out by Richard III, and killed by him in personal encounter. This William, who with his brother Thomas had come with Henry out of Brittany, does not appear to have been a knight, though called Sir William by Hall the chronicler, and thus some confusion has arisen between him and his father, Sir William Brandon, who survived him.

It is quite uncertain when Charles Brandon was born, except that (unless he was a posthumous child) it must of course have been before the battle of Bosworth. It is not likely, however, to have been many years earlier. No mention of him has been found before the accession of Henry VIII, with whom he appears to have been a favourite from the first. In personal qualities, indeed, he was not unlike his sovereign; tall, sturdy, and valiant, with rather a tendency to corpulence, and also with a strong animal nature, not very much restrained at any time by considerations of morality, delicacy, or gratitude. In 1509, the first year of Henry's reign, he was squire of the royal body, and was appointed chamberlain of the principality of North Wales (Calendar of Henry VIII, i. 695). On 6 Feb. 1510 he was made marshal of the king's bench, in the room of his uncle, Sir Thomas Brandon [q. v.], recently deceased (ib. 859). On 23 Nov. 1511 the office of marshal of the royal household was granted to him and Sir John Carewe in survivorship (ib. 1989). On 29 March 1512 he was appointed keeper of the royal manor and park of Wanstead, and on 2 May following ranger of the New Forest (ib. 3103, 3176). By this time he was no longer esquire, but knight of the royal body. On 3 Dec. the same year he re-