Family and Education

b. 23 Mar. 1769, 4th s. of Charles Bruce, 9th Earl of Kincardine [S] and 5th Earl of Elgin [S], by Martha, da. and h. of Thomas White, banker, of London. educ. Westminster 1778; Christ Church, Oxf. 1786-90; L. Inn 1790. unm.

Offices Held

Précis writer, Foreign Office 1797-d.

Cornet, Marlborough yeomanry 1796, lt. 1796, capt. 1798.

Biography

In 1796 Bruce entered Parliament on the interest of his kinsman, the 1st Earl of Ailesbury, as a supporter of administration. On being appointed précis writer at the Foreign Office he vacated his seat, so as to claim his salary of £300 p.a. He was drowned while crossing the river on horseback at Barneby-upon-Don, Yorkshire, on 10 July 1798. ‘He supported, through his short career, the character of an amiable and virtuous man’, according to an obituary notice.

PRO FO366/671, p. 45; Gent. Mag. (1798), ii. 635.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Arthur Aspinall

Notes