Robert Bruce of Kennet, Lord Kennet FRSE (24 December 1718 – 8 April 1785) was a Scottish advocate, legal scholar and judge.
Bruce was born in Edinburgh on 28 December 1718, the son of Mary Balfour, daughter of Robert Balfour, 4th Lord Burleigh and Alexander Bruce of Kennet (1691-1747).[1] [2]
He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in January 1743. He served as Professor of Law of Nature and Nations at the University of Edinburgh (1758–64) and was appointed Sheriff-Depute of Stirling & Clackmannan in 1760.[3] He was elected a Senator of the College of Justice, as Lord Kennet, in 1764 and Lord of Justiciary in 1769.
In 1783 he was a founder member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His Edinburgh address at this time was at George Square.[4]
He died at Kennet House on 8 April 1785.
He married Helen Abercromby (b. 1731) 6 June 1754.[5] [6] They had seven sons and one daughter, including his heir, Alexander (1755-1808) who was born in Edinburgh. [7] The remaining six children were born between 1757 and 1771 at Kennet House. [8]
Bruce was the uncle of James Abercromby, 1st Baron Dunfermline (1776-1858). His brothers-in-law included James Stuart-Mackenzie (1719–1800), Alexander Abercromby, Lord Abercromby (1745–1795), James Edmonstone (d.1793) and Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet (1712-1781) who had married his older sister Margaret (b. 1716). [9]