Background
The son of William Trevor Bruce was born in Norbury, South London.
The son of William Trevor Bruce was born in Norbury, South London.
He was educated at Donington Grammar School in Donington, Lincolnshire and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1936.
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. When Portsmouth North was abolished in 1950, Bruce stood in the successor seat of Portsmouth West, but was narrowly beaten by the Conservative Terence Clarke. 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.
38th United Kingdom Parliament]
From 1945 to 1950 Bruce was Labour Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Portsmouth North.