Lord Elgin, the Lord Lieutenant of the county, presenting the golden key to the Commander-in-Chief, Vice Admiral Sir Charles Gordon Ramsey, KCB, after the opening of the British Sailors Society Hostel, Rosyth, Fife.

Edward James Bruce, 10th Earl of Elgin, 14th Earl of Kincardine, KT, CMG, TD, CD, JP (9 June 1881 – 27 November 1968) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier. He was the eldest son of Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin and Lady Constance Carnegie. He was Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary State for the Colonies (1908–11) and a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland.[1]

Coats of arms of Edward Bruce

He had been a captain in the Forfar and Kincardine Royal Garrison Artillery Militia, and when the Territorial Force was created in 1908 he became Commanding officer of the Highland (Fifeshire) Heavy Battery, RGA with the rank of Major, a position that he held at the outbreak of World War I.[2][3] He served in the war, attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and being mentioned in dispatches twice. In 1918–19 he was assistant director of Labour and a Temporary Colonel and Labour Commandant. After the war he received the CMG.[2]

On 5 January 1921, he married the Hon. Katherine Cochrane, daughter of Lt.-Col. Thomas Cochrane, 1st Baron Cochrane of Cults and Lady Gertrude Boyle. In 1938, his wife was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).[4]

The couple had six children:

He was made a Knight of the Thistle (Scotland's premier order of chivalry) on 3 June 1933. He also held the Order of Polonia Restituta.[2]

After the formation of the Scottish Home Guard in January 1941, Bruce was made commander of No. 3 Zone (Fife & Kinross-shire), South Highland Area. He held this appointment until the end of the war.[6]

As a Colonel in the Territorial Reserve the Earl held a number of honorary colonelcies in the Territorial Army and Canadian Militia:

On October 29, 1958, during the Dedication of the California Masonic Memorial Temple at 1111 California Street in San Francisco, Lord Elgin, then senior past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland presented on its behalf a gift of a marshal's baton made of Scottish Oak to the Grand Lodge of California F.&A.M.. California Grand Marshal John T. Bond used this baton for the first time to escort Lord Elgin back to his seat. That same baton has been used each year by successive Grand Marshals to lead the ceremonial opening of the Grand Lodge of California in front of over a thousand attendees. California Grand Marshals each year are also given exact reproductions of the baton, for use at functions outside the Grand Lodge building and as a memento of their service, along with a history and symbolism of Lord Elgin's presentation.[8]

He was also Lieutenant of the Royal Company of Archers the Queen's Bodyguard for Scotland.[2]

In 1964, he commissioned a statue of Robert the Bruce.[9]

He died at the age of 87 in 1968.

References

  1. ↑ "Edward James Bruce, 10th Earl of Elgin and 14th Earl of Kincardine". National Portrait Gallery.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Burke's Peerage.
  3. ↑ Monthly Army List, August 1914.
  4. ↑ Profile of Katherine, Countess of Elgin, DBE, ncc.nsw.gov.au; retrieved 29 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Hon James Michael Edward Bruce, CBE 1927-2013". Peerage News. 25 April 2013.
  6. ↑ Home Guard List, p. 49
  7. ↑ Monthly Army List May 1939.
  8. ↑ "The History and Replication of the Grand Marshal's Baton" Grand Lodge of California F.&A.M.
  9. ↑ "A very Canadian sort of hero? Robert the Bruce alias The Outlaw King at the Toronto International Film Festival". Broomhall. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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