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John Bruce
Margaret Baddeley
Born in Athlone Ireland in 1808, John Bruce was educated privately and then at the Military College, Sandhurst England.1 He was appointed Ensign in the 16th Foot on 31st July 1828 and posted to India where he was promoted Lieutenant in 1831. Whereas the Australian National Dictionary online states that ‘he married the next year’ after he arrived in India and his wife was the daughter of a Dutch judge at Trichinopoly’, neither the date of his marriage in 1832 nor the place can be corroborated through primary source documents.2 A search in the India Office Library and Oriental Collections revealed that John Bruce was married by licence in the Anglican Cathedral at Fort William Calcutta Bengal on October 18th 1831 to Johannah Jacoba Herklotz, the daughter of Gregory Herklots the Dutch fiscal at Chinsurah.3
Bruce returned to England in 1840 where he exchanged from the 16th to the 18th Foot and was then posted to China arriving in Hong Kong in 1842. He saw brief action at Canton in 1847. Soon after returning to England onboard the Hindostan in 1848 he was placed on half-pay. When the War Office called for applications in 1850 for the post of Staff Officer of Pensioners in the newly established penal station in Western Australia, Captain John Bruce applied and was selected. With his sound knowledge of military administration gained during his active service in Bengal and China where he had served as deputy judge advocate then as assistant adjutant general. 4 On October 25th 1850 Bruce, with his wife five daughters and an infant son arrived at Fremantle on the Hashemy, the second convict transport to Western Australia. 5 Originally his appointment in the Colony was only that of Staff Officer of Pensioners, however in 1853, Governor Fitzgerald selected Bruce to also act as Immigration Agent and visiting Magistrate of Mount Eliza depot. 6 Bruce subsequently relinquished these positions as his role as Staff Officer of Pensioners became more onerous.
In 1854 Bruce was awarded the local rank of Brevet Major and succeeded Captain Irwin as Commandant of the Troops in Western Australia. Although not confirmed until 1869 he was promoted to the local rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1855. During this period Bruce first became involved in governance when he was appointed to the Executive Council in 1856 and often presided over its meetings. 7 He was also assigned the task of forming a citizens’ volunteer force (The Metropolitan Volunteer Rifles) when the regular troops stationed the colony were about to be withdrawn in 1861.
From the 20th to the 27th February 1862 and the 2nd November 1868 to the 29th September 1869 Bruce acted as Governor of the Colony. Bruce’s contribution to the Colony was not only in Governance but was also social with his establishment of Pensioners’ Benevolent Society and his active participation in the founding of the Swan Mechanics’ Institute and the Perth Benefit Building Investment and Loan Society. 8
The success of the Enrolled Pensioner Force and the establishment of the Enrolled Military pensioner settlements was due largely to his judicious management and keen interest in the welfare of individuals and their families after the term of service had expired. This interest can be seen in his correspondence to the Colonial Office. ‘It is my earnest desire to be not only the Commanding Officer, but likewise the friend and advisor of the old soldiers with whom I’m about to proceed to the distant and isolated colony of Western Australia.’ 9
Bruce died in office on 5 November, 1870. 10 He was succeeded as Staff Officer of Pensioners and Commandant of Troops by Major R. H. Crampton between 1870-1871; Major (later Colonel) E. D. Harvest between 1872-1880. Captain Charles Finnerty also acted as Commandant after the death of Major Crampton and before the arrival of Major Harvest. 11 After the disbanding of the Enrolled Pensioner Force in 1880, the Commissioner of Police Captain Matthew Skinner Smith oversaw the Enrolled Guard from its foundation in 1880 until its disbandment in 1887.
Footnotes
1. Broomhall, The Veterans, p81.
2. George F. Wieck, 'Bruce, John (1808–1870)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bruce-john-3092/text4579
3. N-1-30: Parish register transcripts from the Presidency of Bengal, 1713-1948
4. The Times, (London, England), Wednesday, 23rd September 1846, p5.
5. George F. Wieck, 'Bruce, John (1808–1870)', Australian Dictionary of Biography.
6. The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News, Friday 8 July 1853, p2.
7. The Inquirer and Commercial News, Wednesday 2 April 1856, p2.
8. The Inquirer and Commercial News, Wednesday 16 December 1863, p3.
9. CO18/50: War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Western Australia, Original Correspondence; Jan.- May 1849
10. ‘… during his sojourn in this Colony, he had by his straight forward conduct, honesty of purpose, and uprightness of principle, earned for himself, the respect, esteem, and regard of all classes ... his loss, to a young and struggling community, is sincerely and deeply deplored.’ The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times, Friday 11 November 1870, p3.
11. Broomhall, The Veterans, p133.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 21 October, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/bruce2.html (it was last updated on 23 January, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.