Donald Bruce, Baron Bruce of Donington

Donald William Trevor Bruce, Baron Bruce of Donington (3 October 1912 – 18 April 2005) was a British soldier, businessman and politician.

The son of William Trevor Bruce was born in Norbury, South London. He was educated at Donington Grammar School in Donington and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1936. Bruce served in the Territorial Army from 1931 to 1935, later in World War II, in the Royal Signals, where he reached the rank of Major in 1942, serving in the anti-aircraft defence of London before joining U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff as an Intelligence Officer in the preparations for D-Day for which he won a mention in dispatches.

From 1945 to 1950 Bruce was Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth North. During the same time he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan, and compiled many notes and documents with the aim of writing a biography of Bevan, a task later taken up with the assistance of Bruce's papers by Michael Foot.^[1] He also set up his own accountancy firm and ran it until 1977 when it merged with Halpern and Woolf which itself merged with Casson Beckman merging finally with Baker Tilly for whom Bruce still worked in his eighties as a consultant.

On 20 January 1975, he was created a life peer as Baron Bruce of Donington, of Rickmansworth in the County of Hertfordshire. In 1976, he was appointed to the European Parliament, but resigned in 1979.

Lord Bruce of Donington was married twice, firstly to Joan Letitia Butcher in 1939, and after their divorce in 1980, secondly to Cyrena Heard (née Shaw) in 1981. He had four children by his first wife, one son and three daughters (two of whom predeceased him).

Bibliography

• Bruce, Donald (1997). "Nye". In Goodman, Geoffrey (ed.). The State of the Nation: The Political Legacy of Aneurin Bevan. London: Gollancz. pp. 130–155. ISBN 0575063084. 

References

1. ^ Foot, Michael (1975). Aneurin Bevan 1897–1945 (2nd ed. ed.). St Albans: Paladin. p. 9. ISBN 0586081941. 

• "thePeerage". http://www.thepeerage.com/p18508.htm#i185071. Retrieved 2006-10-09. 
• The Times (2005-04-20). "Obituary". London. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1576301,00.html. Retrieved 2006-10-09. 

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Donald Bruce

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Milbourne James	Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North 1945–1950	Succeeded by (constituency abolished)

Persondata
Name	Bruce, Donald
Alternative names	Baron Bruce of Donington
Short description	Politician
Date of birth	3 October 1912
Place of birth	Norbury, Surrey, England
Date of death	18 April 2005
Place of death