Gordon Bremer
Sir James John Gordon Bremer (1786–1850) was a notable British Royal Navy officer who rose to rear-admiral. He was born in Portsea, Hampshire, and joined the Navy as a boy, becoming a midshipman in 1802 and a lieutenant in 1805. He first commanded HMS Rattlesnake in the East Indies in 1807 and reached post-captain in 1814.
In 1824 Bremer led HMS Tamar to Melville Island, Australia, to establish a British colony. He claimed a stretch of the north coast of Australia (129° to 135° longitude) for Britain and built a settlement at Fort Dundas. The site proved unhealthy and expensive to maintain, and the post was abandoned in 1828.
Bremer also commanded British forces at the Battle of Berbera in 1827, a raid in the Horn of Africa.
In the First Opium War (1839–1842), Bremer served as the senior naval officer for parts of the campaign. In January 1841 he took formal possession of Hong Kong Island for Britain, hoisting the flag at Possession Point and declaring the island British territory.
From 1846 to 1848, Bremer jointly commanded the Channel Squadron and served as superintendent of Woolwich Dockyard. He retired in 1848 with the rank of rear-admiral and died in 1850 at Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Bremer was married twice. He first wed Harriet Wheeler in 1811, and they had six children. After Harriet’s death in 1846, he married Jemima Mary Harriet Brisbane in 1848.
Honors he received include Companion of the Bath (CB) in 1815, Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order (KCH) in 1836, and Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) in 1841, along with the China War Medal (1842).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:39 (CET).