Hello all.
I’ve just joined this forum, I’m not sure if this thread can be revived, but here goes.
It seems that Ewen Cameron Bruce wasn’t the only member to bring scandal or disgrace on the Bruce family - I think his half-brother, Allan George Cameron Bruce was the focus of a much larger scandal which involved Winston Churchill.
Allan Bruce was a ‘colleague and rival’ of Churchill at Sandhurst (Lavery, p. 12)
On passing out of Sandhurst, Churchill was commissioned as a subaltern in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars in February 1895.
‘When it became known in the spring of 1895 that Bruce intended to join the 4th Hussars, a group of subalterns in the regiment, including Churchill, tried to keep him out’ (Russel).
‘Churchill and his cronies had decided that.............Bruce was unsuited to join their ranks’, and with Churchill acting as spokesman Bruce was informed that he was not wanted. (Rose, p. 33)
Bruce refused to be browbeaten and joined the regiment, where he was boycotted by Churchill’s group.
Under the pretext of meeting a veteran of Balaclava, Bruce was lured to the NCO’s mess, where he raised a glass to the health of the mess. Three days later Bruce was arrested and charged with ‘improperly associating with non-commissioned officers’ and condemned as unfit to serve with the 4th Hussars. He left the regiment and the army.
The cause of the hostility towards and harassment of Bruce is unclear, but it’s alleged that Bruce had knowledge of a homosexual relationship between Churchill and another cadet at Sandhurst (Morgan pp. 81 – 83)
Bruce’s father (Allan Cameron Bruce-Pryce) advocated on his behalf, and the culture of snobbery and bullying in the 4th Hussars became a national issue, debated in Parliament and condemned in the press (Coughlin).
Bruce-Pryce went so far as to allege that his son knew that Churchill had participated at Sandhurst in ‘acts of gross immorality of the Oscar Wilde type’. Churchill sued, and accepted a settlement out of court.
The affair didn’t die easily, being repeatedly raised by the journal ‘Truth’, and ‘....caused a scandal that very nearly ruined Churchill’s career’ (Russell).
Churchill's career was saved, but Bruce's was over less than a year after graduating Sandhurst.
I’ve become interested in Bruce since I bought his sword at auction on Monday. I can’t help wondering where the sword’s been for the last 120 years – it must have been a bitter memento of a very short and sad military career.
References:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bruce-Pryce-1 Coughlin,Con. Churchill's First War: Young Winston and the Fight Against the Taliban
Gilbert, Martin. Churchill: A Life p. 61
Lavery, Brian. Churchill Warrior: How a Military Life Guided Winston's Finest Hours p.12
Morgan, Ted. Churchill: Young Man in a Hurry, 1874-1915 (1984)
Rose, Norman. Churchill - An Unruly Life
Russell, Douglas S. Winston Churchill Soldier: The Military Life of a Gentleman At War
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3093439/Was-Winston-secretly-GAY.html 