Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Aberdare
Office5:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start5:25 February 1895
Term End5:20 February 1929
Hereditary peerage
Predecessor5:The 1st Baron Aberdare
Successor5:The 3rd Baron Aberdare
Birth Name:Henry Campbell Bruce
Birth Date:19 June 1851
Birth Place:Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
Death Place:St George Hanover Square, London, England
Father:Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare
Children:9, including Clarence and Eva

Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare, (19 June 1851 – 20 February 1929), styled The Honourable from 1873 to 1895, was a British soldier and peer.

Background

Born in Merthyr Tydfil,[1] Bruce was the eldest son of Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare, who had served as Home Secretary. His mother Annabella was his father's first wife and the daughter of Richard Beadon.[2] He was educated at Rugby School and at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. In 1895, he succeeded his father as baron.

Career

His military career, by virtue of his status in the nobility, was started early: he served in the Welch Regiment and became a major of the 3rd Battalion in 1899. A year later he was appointed its honorary lieutenant-colonel and in 1910 honorary colonel of the 5th Battalion. Later Bruce was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Battalion. He was decorated with the Volunteer Decoration.

Bruce was president of University College as well as of the National Museum Wales. He was a Justice of the Peace, assigned to Glamorgan and represented the county first as Deputy Lieutenant from December 1901, later as Vice Lord Lieutenant.

He was a member of the London Survey Committee, a voluntary organisation publishing architectural surveys of the capital.[3]

Family

He married Constance Mary, daughter of Hamilton Beckett on 10 February 1880. The couple had nine children together, five sons and four daughters.[2]

His oldest son and heir apparent Henry was commissioned a captain in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Scots, but was killed in action soon after the First World War broke out.[5] Bruce died himself in St George Hanover Square,[6] London, on 20 February 1929[7] [8] and was succeeded in the barony by his second son Clarence.His granddaughter, Pamela Digby, became American Ambassador to France.

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Index entry. 17 April 2023. FreeBMD. ONS.
  2. Dod (1915), p. 41
  3. Web site: Members of the Survey Committee Pages 4-7 Survey of London Monograph 12 . British History Online . Guild & School of Handicraft, London, 1926. . 27 February 2024.
  4. Bruce [née Petre], Mildred Mary (1895–1990), motorist and aviator ]. 2022-08-09 . 2004 . en . 10.1093/ref:odnb/63962. 978-0-19-861412-8 . Pottle . Mark .
  5. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/929652 CWGC entry
  6. Web site: Index entry. 17 April 2023. FreeBMD. ONS.
  7. Web site: Mr Henry Bruce (Hansard). 2023-04-17. api.parliament.uk.
  8. Book: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London, England). The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. 1984. The Society. 233.