Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine FRS (1629–1681) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

inventor, politician, judge and freemason, who collaborated with

Christiaan Huygens Christiaan Huygens, Halen, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , ; ; also spelled Huyghens; ; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor who is regarded as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution ...

in developing a marine

pendulum clock A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is an approximate harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dep ...

. His grandfather, Sir George Bruce had built up a fortune in coal-mining and salt-production, building

Culross Palace Culross Palace is a late 16th to early 17th century merchant's house in Culross, Fife, Scotland. The palace, or "Great Lodging", was constructed between 1597 and 1611 by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, George Bruce, the Laird of Carnock. The house ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

in 1597. During the English Civil War he served as a captain with the Royalist cavalry, fighting at the Battle of Worcester. He was a probably a participant in Glencairn's uprising, after which he was briefly imprisoned. For the latter part of Cromwell's Commonwealth he lived in Bremen in voluntary exile. He was a close supporter of Charles II. In 1659 he married Veronica, a sister of

Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck (also: Sommelsdijk) (The Hague, 20 August 1637 - Paramaribo, 19 July 1688) was the first governor of Suriname after the establishment of the Society of Suriname in 1683. He was governor from 27 November 1683 ...

and delivered stone for the construction of the townhall of Amsterdam. He returned to Scotland once Charles II was restored to the English throne. He inherited the family estates in Culross on the death of his brother in 1662, although had been managing them for some time before that due to his brother's incapacity. He resumed mining activities at Culross Colliery sinking the Ding Dong Pit and probably the Valleyfield Moat Pit. He was granted a 21-year monopoly for the export of stone from Scotland in 1662. On 20 June 1667 Bruce is listed as a

Treasurer of Scotland The Treasurer was a senior post in the pre- Union government of Scotland, the Privy Council of Scotland. Lord Treasurer The full title of the post was ''Lord High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collector-General and Treasurer of the New Augmentation'', ...

. In the same year he was an Extraordinary Lord of Session. Bruce was one those making up the 1660 committee of 12 that led to formation of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

, and he conducted extensive correspondence with fellow freemason Sir

Robert Moray Sir Robert Moray (alternative spellings: Murrey, Murray) FRS (1608 or 1609 – 4 July 1673) was a Scottish soldier, statesman, diplomat, judge, spy, and natural philosopher. He was well known to Charles I and Charles II, and to the French ...

. These letters are the main source of biographical information on Bruce.

References

1629 births 1681 deaths Nobility from Fife Clergy from Fife 2 17th-century Scottish scientists Scottish inventors Members of the Privy Council of Scotland Freemasonry in Scotland Bruce, Alexander Scottish Episcopalians Commissioners of the Treasury of Scotland Extraordinary Lords of Session {{Scotland-scientist-stub

See also

References