Herbert Alexander Bruce

Herbert Alexander Bruce (September 28, 1868 – June 23 1963), served as the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canada, from 1932 to 1937.

Born in Blackstock, Ontario near Port Perry, Bruce was educated as a surgeon at the University of Toronto and in Paris and Vienna. He owned Wellesley Hospital in Toronto which he founded in 1911, and was a professor of surgery at the University of Toronto.

In 1916, during World War I, he was appointed inspector-general of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Sir Sam Hughes, and attained the rank of colonel.

Bruce investigated medical practices in the army and issued a "Report on the Canadian Army Medical Service" which urged a complete reorganization of the medical corps. His report was disowned by the government at the time and he was dismissed from his duties, though many of his recommendations were ultimately implemented. In 1919, he published "Politics and the Canadian Army Medical Corps", criticizing the government for its actions.

In 1920, Bruce purchased a farm on Bayview Avenue overlooking the Don Valley and built a Tudor-style mansion which he named Annandale.

He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario by R.B. Bennett and often verbally clashed with new Ontario Premier Mitch Hepburn who attempted to curtail the extravagance of the vice-regal office in the face of the Great Depression. The lieutenant-governor's official residence, Chorley Park, was closed by the Hepburn government at the end of Bruce's term on the pretext of cutting costs.

While most lieutenant-governors are former politicians, Bruce took the unusual step of entering politics following his term as the King's representative, by contesting and winning a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1940 federal election. Sitting as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Parkdale, Bruce was an outspoken advocate of conscription. He was re-elected to a second term in the 1945 federal election, but retired from office in 1946.

His autobiography, " Varied Operations", was published in 1958. He died in Toronto in 1963 and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

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Persondata
NAME = Bruce, Herbert Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
DATE OF BIRTH = September 28, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH = Blackstock, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH = June 23 1963
PLACE OF DEATH =