retired on the pension of a full general on 8 Sept. 1800, and died on 16 Oct. 1827.
[Archives of the Imperial Royal Ministry of War, Vienna; information from local sources.]
BRAGG, PHILIP (d. 1760), lieutenant-general, colonel 28th foot, M.P. for Armagh, was at Blenheim a an ensign the 1st foot guards, his commission bearing date 10 March 1702. He appears to have afterward served in the 24th foot, which was much distinguished in all Marlborough's subsequent campaigns under the command of Colonel Gilbert Primrose, who came from the same regiment of guards. The English records of this period contain no reference to Bragg, but in a set of Irish military entry-books, commencing in 1713, which are preserved in the Four Courts, Dublin, his name appears as captain in Primrose's regiment, lately returned from Holland to Ireland; his commission is here dated 1 June 1715, on which day new commissions were issued to all officers in the regiment in consequence of the accession of George I. On 12 June 1732 Bragg was appointed master of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, in succession to Major-general Robert Stearne, deceased, and on 16 Dec. following he became lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Robert Hargreave's regiment, afterwards known as the 31st foot. On 10 Oct. 1734 he succeeded Major-general Nicholas Price as colonel of the 28th foot, an appointment which he held for twenty-five years, and which originated the name 'The Old Braggs,' by which that regiment was long popularly known. As a brigadier-general Bragg accompanied Lord Stair to Flanders, where he commanded a brigade. He became a lieutenant-general in 1747, and in 1751 was appointed to the staff in Ireland. He died at Dublin, at an advanced age, on 6 June 1759. leaving the bulk of his small fortune of 7,000l. to Lord George Sackville.
[Hamilton's Hist. Gren. Guards, vol. iii. (London. 1874); Treasury Papars, xciii. List of Recipients of Queen's Bounty for Blenheim; Irish Military Entry Books in Public Record Office, Dublin; Gent. Mag. xii. 108, xiii. 190, xv. 389, xvii. 496. xxi. 477, xxix. 293; De la Warr MSS. in Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep.]
BRAGGE, WILLIAM (1823–1884), engineer and antiquary, was born at Birmingham 31 May 1823, his father being Thomas Perry Bragge, a jeweller. After some years of general tuition, Bragge studied practical engineering with two Birmingham firms, and in his leisure applied himself closely to the study of mechanics and mathematics. In 1845 he entered the office of a civil engineer, and engaged in railway surveying. He acted first as assistant engineer and then as engineer-in-chief of part of the line from Chester to Holyhead.
Through the recommendation of Sir Charles Fox, Bragge was sent out to Brazil as the representative of Messrs. Belhouse & Co., of Manchester, and he carried out the lighting of the city of Rio de Janeiro with gas. This was followed by the survey of the first railway constructed in Brazil—the line from Rio de Janeiro to Petropolis—for which he received several distinctions from the emperor Don Pedro. The emperor in later years visited Bragge at Sheffield.
In 1858 Bragge left South America. He became one of the managing directors of the firm of Sir John Brown & Co., and was elected mayor of Sheffield. The rolling of armour plates, the manufacture of steel plates, the adoption of the helical railway buffer-spring, and other developments of mechanical enterprise, were matters in which he rendered effective aid to his firm. Bragge filled the office of master cutler of Sheffield, and took great interest in the town's free libraries, school of art, and museums. In 1872 he resigned his position of managing director to his firm, which had been converted into a limited company, and went over to Paris as engineer to the Société des Engrais, which had for its object the utilisation of the sewage of a large part of Paris. The scheme proved unsuccessful, and resulted in heavy pecuniary loss to the promoters. In 1876 Bragge returned to his native town of Birmingham, settling there, and developing a large organisation for the manufacture of watches by machinery on the American system.
The antiquarian tastes of Bragge, which he found time to cultivate in spite of his labours in business, were manifested in his numerous collections. Amongst these was a unique Cervantes collection, which included nearly every work written by or relating to the great Spanish writer. This collection, which consisted of 1,500 volumes, valued at 2,000l., Bragge presented to his native town, but unfortunately it was destroyed in the fire at the Birmingham Free Libraries in 1879. A cabinet of gems and precious stones which Bragge collected from all parts of Europe was purchased for the Birmingham Art Gallery. The most remarkable collection formed by Bragge was one of pipes and smoking apparatus, in which every quarter of the world was represented. A catalogue prepared and published
