[1] In the 16th century one of his ancestors, the knight Jean de Braconnier,[2] was master alderman and member of the parliament of Metz.

His parents were Charles Michel Louis Braconnier and Éléonore Zélie Aimée de Fraudigney.

[4] As such, he took part in the campaign of the Belgian observation army stationed between Namur and the Ardennes under the command of General Pierre Emmanuel Félix Chazal to resist a possible Prussian incursion into Belgium during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

[4] On 15 August 1880 Braconnier left Liverpool aboard the Gaboon, accompanied by Paul Nève, Victor Harou, Edmond Hanssens and Louis Valcke.

Braconnier, Stanley and Harou embarked on the Royal, a ship commanded by Anderson, and sailed upstream to establish new stations at Manyanga and the Pool.

Braconnier was charged with finding a route from Manyanga to the mouth of the Lufu River, bypassing the Ntombo-Mataka falls.

Valcke came to join the group having brought all the floating material destined for the Pool some distance upstream of the falls.

But, while the natives were hoisting the equipment in steep terrain, one of the wagons fell violently hitting Braconnier who was thrown into the rocks.

[4] He made a path on the Ijumbi plateau at the bottom of Ngoma hill, thanks to which the column could establish its camp at Usansi, in Makoko territory.

On 3 December 1881 the boat En Avant was launched on the Pool and a few days later it arrived at Ntamo, where the foundations of Léopoldville (Kinshasa) were established.

In order to protect himself from the local population and particularly from the chief Ngalièma, he first installed a blockhouse, around which other buildings were then erected.