Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC (15 April 1883–25 August 1967) was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was only the second Australian ever granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom parliament, but the only one whose peerage was formally created. (The first had been John Forrest, who was advised he was to be made a peer, but he died before his peerage was formally created, and as a result his announced peerage did not actually come into existence).^[1]

Early life

He was born in Melbourne^[2] where his father was a prominent businessman of Scottish descent. He was educated at Glamorgan (now part of Geelong Grammar School), Melbourne Grammar School, and then at Cambridge University. After graduation he studied law in London and was called to the bar in 1907. He practised law in London, and also managed the London office of his father's importing business. When World War I broke out he joined the British Army, and was commissioned to the Worcestershire Regiment, seconded to the Royal Fusiliers. In 1917 he was severely wounded in France, winning the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre.

Political career

Bruce in the 1910s

Prime Minister

Bruce's appointment marked an important turning point in Australian political history. He was the first Prime Minister who had not been involved in the movement for federation, who had not been a member of a colonial Parliament, and who had not been a member of the original 1901 federal Parliament. With his aristocratic manners and dress – he drove a Rolls Royce and wore white spats – he was also the first genuinely "Tory" Australian Prime Minister.

He formed an effective partnership with the Country Party leader, Dr Earle Page, and exploited public fears of communism and militant trade unions to dominate Australian politics through the 1920s. Despite predictions that Australians would not accept such an aloof leader, he won a smashing victory over a demoralised Labor Party at the 1925 election. He pursued a policy of support for the British Empire, the League of Nations, and the White Australia Policy:

"We intend to keep this country white and not allow its peoples to be faced with the problems that at present are practically insoluble in many parts of the world."

^[3]

In his policy launch speech made at the Shire Hall in Dandenong on 25 October 1925, Bruce reiterated his government's commitment to the White Australia Policy:

"It is necessary that we should determine what are the ideals towards which every

Australian would desire to strive. I think those ideals might well be stated as being to secure our national safety, and to ensure the maintenance of our White Australia Policy to continue as an integral portion of the British Empire." ^[4]

Maritime Industries crisis

Bruce in the 1920s

Later life

After his 1929 electoral defeat, Bruce went to England for personal business reasons and contested the 1931 election from that country. He won his seat back and became a Minister without portfolio in the government of Joseph Lyons. Lyons quickly dispatched Bruce back to England to represent the government there and he led the Australian delegation to the 1932 Ottawa Imperial Conference. But Lyons wanted Bruce out of politics altogether and in 1933 he resigned from Parliament in order to take the position in London as High Commissioner. He held this post with great distinction for 12 years, playing a notable role in the Abdication Crisis triggered by Edward VIII, and representing Australia's interests in London during World War II. He was appointed a member of the Imperial War Cabinet and the Pacific War Cabinet.

In 1947 he became the only Australian ever created an hereditary peer when he was created 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, of Westminster Gardens in the City of Westminster. (Sir John Forrest was to have been similarly honoured in 1918, and his peerage was even publicly announced, but he died before it was officially created). He was the first Australian to take his seat in the House of Lords.

Bruce divided the rest of his life between London and Melbourne. He remained Australian High Commissioner until 1945. He represented Australia on various United Nations bodies and his name was considered for the position of United Nations Secretary-General. He was the chairman of the World Food Council for five years. He was also Chancellor of the Australian National University for a decade starting in 1951.

He died in London on 25 August 1967. He died childless and the viscountcy became extinct.

Personal

He married Ethel Dunlop Anderson (born 25 May 1879) in 1913. They had no children. Viscountess Bruce died on 16 March 1967, only a few months before her husband. ^[5]

See also

Bust of Stanley Bruce by sculptor Wallace Anderson located in the Prime Minister's Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens

• First Bruce Ministry
• Second Bruce Ministry
• Third Bruce Ministry

References

• Cecil Edwards, Bruce of Melbourne: Man of Two Worlds, Heinemann, 1965.
• Heather Radi, Bruce, Stanley Melbourne (Viscount Bruce) (1883 - 1967), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 453-461.
• Stanley Bruce, National Museum of Australia
• Stanley Melbourne Bruce - Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archives of Australia
• Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war, Parliament of Australia, 26 March 2007.
• Brian Carroll, Australia's Prime Ministers: from Barton to Howard, Rosenburg Press, 2004

Notes

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