Sir Gainsford Bruce (1834 – 24 February 1912) was a British politician and judge.
Bruce was born in 1835 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the son of the
Reverend Dr. Collingwood Bruce, a proprietor of a private school, and his wife Charlotte (née Gainsford). He was educated at
Glasgow University
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
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, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
, and in 1859 was called to the bar at
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
. In 1883 he was appointed a
Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...
.
Bruce first stood for the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
at Gateshead in 1880 but was defeated; he failed again in 1883 at Newcastle, 1885 at Tyneside and 1886 at Barrow. He was finally returned to Parliament for
Finsbury (Holborn Division) in 1888. In the 1892 election he was again returned for the Holborn division, but before Parliament sat he was appointed a Judge and had to resign his seat. He sat as a Judge until he retired in 1904. He was knighted in 1892 and in 1904 was appointed a
Privy Councillor.
He specialised in shipping law. He was co-author with R G Williams of the textbook ''Admiralty Practice''. Bruce died at his home near Bromley, Kent, aged 77.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Gainsford
1830s births
1912 deaths
20th-century English judges
British legal writers
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Knights Bachelor
UK MPs 1886–1892
Queen's Bench Division judges
Politicians from Newcastle upon Tyne
English King's Counsel
19th-century English judges