Colonel Robert Bruce
(1825-1899)

[Identified as 'Robert Bruce / Colonel' on the album page, this is probably the third son of Sir James Robertson Bruce, 2nd Bt, and his wife Ellen née Hesketh.]

Born at Downhill House in County Londonderry/Derry on 17 February 1825, he entered the Army and gained the rank of Colonel in the service of 23rd Fusileers. He fought in the Crimean War and in the Indian Mutiny. Between 1882 and 1885 he was Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary. In 1885 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

On 1 February 1859 he married Mary Caroline Burgoyne, daughter of Colonel Sir John Montagu Burgoyne, 9th Bt. The marriage produced one daughter, Lilian Amy Bruce. 

The couple and their daughter appear on the 1871 census living at Moss House in Clayton-le-Woods, Lancashire. Also present on the night of the census were a governess and four servants. 

Colonel Robert Bruce, CB, died on 1 September 1899, aged 74, at 'Bruno,' Alexandra Road, Farnborough, Hampshire. He left an estate valued at £40,326.

The following obituary appeared in the Manchester Evening News (4 September 1899): 'Colonel Robert Bruce, C.B., of 6, Warwick Square, London, S.W., formerly Royal Welsh Fusileers and Inspector-General Royal Irish Constabulary, died on Friday, at Farnborough, at the age of 74. The third son of the late Sir James R. Bruce, second baronet, of Down Hill, Londonderry, he was born on February 17, 1825, was educated at the Scottish Naval and Military Academy, and served for a time in the army, with the 23rd Fusileers, with which regiment he was engaged in Canada, Bulgaria, and in the Crimea during the siege of and until the fall of Sebastopol, receiving the medal with clasp and the Turkish medal. He was also actively engaged in the Indian mutiny campaign [...]. For his services he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel and the medal with two clasps. He was Inspecting Field Officer of Volunteers in Lancashire from 1853 to 1867, retiring from the army with the rank of colonel in 1867. From 1868 to 1877, he was Chief Constable of Lancashire, from 1877 to 1882 Deputy Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and from 1882 to 1885 Inspector-General. In 1885 he was created a C.B. (Civil Division). Colonel Bruce, who was magistrate for Middlesex, and the County of London, married in 1859 Mary Caroline, only daughter of Sir John Montagu Burgoyne and was left a widower in 1893.'