Descendant of a German family that settled in South Africa, Brand was portkeeper at Simonstown (False Bay) and an aquaintance of Joseph Banks, having met during Cook's first voyage (1771). In a diary extract during provisioning for his second voyage at Cape Town (1772), James Cook commentated that the ships officers and scientists "fix'd our selves at Mr Brands, the usual residence of most Officers belonging to English ships". Francis Masson, Banks' collector in South Africa, also mentions the assistance of Brand in his correspondence (1786). Christoffel Brand was one of the first to enter into the service of the British when they occupied the Cape (1795). Not to be confused with his son Christoffel Joseph Brand (fl. 1811-1843), a godson of Joseph Banks and a politician who bought at auction (1841) the former market garden of Leeuwenhof, today the residence of the Premier of the Western Cape. Another descendent was Sir Johannes Hendricus Brand (1823-1888), who became the fourth president of Orange Free State (1863).