Robert Bruce

File:R. H. W. Bruce H. H. A. Plaque - Shetland Museum and Archives RY00836.jpg

Plaque commemorating R. H. W. Bruce's Chairmanship of the Hjaltland Housing Association Ltd. from 1975 - 1983.<br>Photo from Shetland Museum and Archives

Robert Hunter Wingate Bruce (b. 11 October 1907, Burma, d. 17 August 1983, Sandwick, Shetland) was Lord Lieutenant of Shetland and County Councillor. He resided at Sandlodge, Sandwick.

He was born Robert Bruce Wingate, son of John Bruce Wingate, and grandson of Elizabeth Helen Bruce of Sumburgh, who married the Rev. T.D. Wingate. John Bruce Wingate inherited the Sumburgh and Lunna estates in 1939 on the death of his uncle, Robert Hunter Bruce, and changed his name to John Bruce: at the same time Robert Bruce Wingate changed his name to Robert Hunter Wingate Bruce.

He married in 1935 Valmai Muriel Chamberlain, (b. Abt 1906, d. 14 May 1998), of Hailsworth, Gloucestershire.

Educated at Rugby and Oxford, he joined the L.M.S. Railway in 1930. He held various positions with the railway until 1941, when he was loaned to the Ministry of Economic Warfare, on whose behalf he spent a month in Washington in 1942. In 1943 he was recalled to the railway, and appointed manager of a line in Northern Ireland, with a payroll of about 2000. He became railway liaison officer with the British and American armed forces.

In May, 1946, he resigned to run the Sumburgh and Lunna estates, which he inherited from his father. He lived in Shetland from 1946 to 1952, and for part of that period was a county councillor and a member of the Highlands and Islands Panel. He represented Dunrossness North between 1949 and 1952, and again between 1963 and 1967.

He was Lord Lieutenant for Shetland] from 1963 to 1982.

In 1952 he accepted a five-year appointment as principal representative in Southern Africa of the Rio Tinto Company. During his chairmanship, the companies carried out a large programme of mining exploration in Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. Bruce also served as a director of three large copper mining companies in Northern Rhodesia, and he was a director of the Merchant Bank of Central Africa.

He returned to Shetland in late 1957, and was adopted as Tory candidate for Orkney and Shetland in March 1958. He was defeated in the subsequent general election.

Robert played an active part in the Shetland Council of Social Service, as part of a movement to revitalise Shetland economically. He also served as Chairman of the Hjaltland Housing Association Ltd. from 1975 to 1983.

Following the death of Mrs Bruce in 1998 the Sumburgh and Lunna estates passed in to the hands of descendants of his eldest sister, Elizabeth Helen Wingate, who on January 7th 1930 had married Lestock George Robert Forbes Hamilton Bell, grandson of Robina Hunter, heiress of Lunna House and the Hunter of Lunna family estate and her husband Robert Bell. Thus strengthening the already significant links between the Bruce of Sumburgh and Hunter of Lunna families and estates.

He unsuccessfully contested the Sandwick seat at the 1961 County Council election.

Political Career

• 1946 Dunrossness North by-election
• 1949 County Council election
• 1963 Dunrossness North by-election
• 1964 County Council election

Zetland County Council
Preceded by John Goudie	Member for Dunrossness North 1946-1952	Succeeded by Tom Henderson
Preceded by James Pottinger	Member for Sandwick 1958-1961	Succeeded by James Halcrow
Preceded by Tom Henderson	Member for Dunrossness North 1963-1967	Succeeded by Iain Campbell

External Links

• Bayanne geneology page