George James Bruere

George James Bruere (born 1720/21, died 10 September 1780) 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.

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, Nottingham, 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

Of this Governor Bruere the colonial annalists relate that he was a man of an irascible temper and overbearing disposition, living and ruling in a perpetual state of antagonism with the Assembly and the People. He was a soldier, and a good one; but he was habituated to command, and impatient of opposition.

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:

Bring your Negroes to a better regularity and due obedience... prevent their unlawfull Assemblys, Thefts, and pernicious practices of leaving their Masters Houses and going to meetings... by night.

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.

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