Career
Bruen was elected at the 1812 general election as Member of Parliament for Carlow county, and was then returned unopposed at the next three general elections. He regained a seat at the general election in January 1835, but the 1835 election in Carlow was overturned on petition, and Bruen lost his seat in the resulting by-election on 15 June. However, the by-election was itself the subject of a petition, and the result was overturned, with Bruen being returned to Westminster, along with his father-in-law, fellow Conservative Thomas Kavanagh.
He was then re-elected at the next three general elections, and died in office in November 1852 at the age of 63, five months after holding his seat at the general election in July.
Henry was the second son of Henry Bruen (1741–1795), and Dorothea Henrietta Knox. His father originally came from Boyle, County Roscommon, but had moved in 1775 to Oak Park estate, near Carlow town.
The estate was inherited by Henry, and remained in the family until 1957. (Anne"s younger half-brother was Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh (1831–1889), the severely disabled writer, politician and sportsman).