Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare


Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare, styled The Honourable from 1873 to 1895, was a British soldier and peer.

Background

Born in Merthyr Tydfil, 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. 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.

Family

Bruce married Constance Mary, daughter of Hamilton Beckett on 10 February 1880. The couple had nine children together, five sons and four daughters.
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. Bruce died himself in St George Hanover Square, London, on 20 February 1929, and was succeeded in the barony by his second son Clarence.