 His younger brother Henry (1837–1914) also became a distinguished army officer and military author.Commissioned as a Royal Artillery second lieutenant in 1850, Brackenbury was eventually promoted to lieutenant in September 1852 before serving (with the chestnut troop of the horse artillery) in the Crimean War in 1855 and 1856, being decorated for services at the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55).He was promoted to second captain in November 1857, and sent to Malta.