124 Facts About Stanley Bruce

Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne was an Australian politician, statesman and businessman who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929.

Stanley Bruce held office as the leader of the Nationalist Party, having previously served as the treasurer of Australia from 1921 to 1923.

Stanley Bruce served on the front lines of the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I and returned to Australia wounded in 1917, becoming a spokesman for government recruitment efforts.

Stanley Bruce gained the attention of the Nationalist Party and prime minister Billy Hughes, who encouraged a political career.

Stanley Bruce was elected to the House of Representatives in 1918, becoming member of parliament for the seat of Flinders.

Stanley Bruce was appointed as treasurer in 1921, before replacing Hughes as prime minister in 1923.

Stanley Bruce comprehensively overhauled federal government administration and oversaw its transfer to the new capital city of Canberra.

Stanley Bruce implemented various reforms to the Australian federal system to strengthen the role of the Commonwealth, and helped develop the forerunners of the Australian Federal Police and the CSIRO.

Stanley Bruce's "men, money and markets" scheme was an ambitious attempt to rapidly expand Australia's population and economic potential through massive government investment and closer ties with Great Britain and the rest of the British Empire.

Stanley Bruce became an influential figure in British government circles and at the League of Nations, emerging as a tireless advocate for international co-operation on economic and social problems, especially those facing the developing world.

Particularly passionate on improving global nutrition, Stanley Bruce was one of the key figures in the establishment of the Food and Agriculture Organization, serving as the first chairman of its governing council.

Stanley Bruce was the first Australian to sit in the House of Lords, as well as the first Chancellor of the Australian National University.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce was born on 15 April 1883 in St Kilda, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, and was the youngest of five children.

Stanley Bruce's father, John Munro Stanley Bruce, was born to Scottish parents in County Leitrim, Ireland, and had emigrated to Australia in 1858 at the age of 18.

John Stanley Bruce became a talented businessman with "a flair for buying and selling", which would secure him a partnership in an established Melbourne importing firm that in 1868 became known as Paterson, Laing and Stanley Bruce.

Stanley Bruce was prominent in the liberal protectionist political movement within the state and an early supporter of future prime minister Alfred Deakin.

John Bruce's success ensured that Stanley Bruce, his sister Mary and his brothers Ernest, William and Robert were born into affluence.

Stanley Bruce was an average student but extremely active in the sporting life of the school, captain of its Australian football team, and then of the school itself in 1901.

John Stanley Bruce lost much of his fortune in the Victorian bank collapse of 1894 and incurred large debts to buy out his partners in the importing business in 1897.

Just two years later John Stanley Bruce took his own life during a business trip to Paris; he had suffered from depression as a result of the great pressures on his business and finances.

The young Stanley Bruce was ambitious and determined to get an education.

Stanley Bruce was a popular if average student, heavily involved in the athletic life of the college, including as a member of the Cambridge rowing crew that won the Boat Race in 1904.

Ernest Stanley Bruce had remained in Australia to take charge of the family's business interests.

In 1906, he lobbied the directors of the company to have his brother Stanley take over the chairmanship of Paterson, Laing and Bruce, and was ultimately successful.

Stanley Bruce shared many of Bruce's interests, especially golf, and his political outlook.

Stanley Bruce returned briefly to Australia in 1914, swapping positions within the company with his brother Ernest.

Stanley Bruce enlisted and received a commission as a lieutenant on 7 February 1915 and was attached to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in Egypt, which was then assigned to the British 29th Division.

Stanley Bruce's regiment landed at Cape Helles in mid-1915, where he fully distinguished himself in the construction of trenches and as an able commander.

Stanley Bruce later reflected that he must have been kept on earth for some purpose.

Hence, in September 1916 Stanley Bruce sought to resign his commission and return to Australia to resume management of the family business.

Mitchell proved to be a disappointing speaker, and Stanley Bruce won preselection with the help of the National Union.

Stanley Bruce distinguished himself as one of Australia's two representatives to the League of Nations in 1921 in Geneva, at which he passionately advocated for disarmament and greater international co-operation, despite his general scepticism with regards to the League's mission and potential for success.

Stanley Bruce had only been in parliament for three years, yet his business background was highly desirable to Hughes, who was facing growing criticism from the pro-business figures of the party.

Stanley Bruce found Hughes' management of the government capricious and chaotic, and felt that little was accomplished in Cabinet or in party meetings so long as Hughes headed them.

Yet Stanley Bruce endeared himself to many of his colleagues with his amiable personal style, his forceful voice in Cabinet against Hughes, and his conservative views, which were more in line with the majority of the party.

Stanley Bruce moved quickly to secure a working majority for his government.

Stanley Bruce convinced Hughes' long time political ally George Pearce to join his ministry and shored up the support of the other former National Labor members of the Nationalist Party whom had walked out of the Labor Party with Hughes in 1916.

Stanley Bruce appointed William Watt as Speaker of the House, effectively removing one of his key opponents from the benches, a tactical manoeuvre that became common in Australian politics thereafter.

Stanley Bruce had to pay a very high price for this relationship, however.

Stanley Bruce was the first prime minister who had not been involved in the movement for Federation, who had not been a member of a colonial or state parliament, and who had not been a member of the original 1901 federal parliament.

Stanley Bruce was, in addition, the first prime minister to head a cabinet consisting entirely of Australian-born ministers.

Yet Stanley Bruce himself was frequently caricatured in public as "an Englishman who happened to have been born in Australia".

Stanley Bruce drove a Rolls-Royce, wore white spats, and was often seen as distant and lacking the common touch: characteristics that did little to personally endear him to the Australian public.

Australia was a vast and richly resourced country with fewer than six million inhabitants, and Stanley Bruce made it his government's priority to develop Australia's economy.

Stanley Bruce summarised this vision as a program of "men, money and markets".

Stanley Bruce argued for Empire-wide economic trading arrangements that filled domestic demands by production from member states before seeking supplemental imports from other countries and empires.

In 1927, Earle Page handed down the first budget in deficit for the coalition government, and Stanley Bruce recognised that Australia's economic position was deteriorating.

Stanley Bruce persisted with his plans and believed that growing Australian exports were the key to rectifying the problems, thus justifying further investment and encouragement of population growth.

Stanley Bruce moved to abolish per capita payments to the states, to be replaced by a funding formula tied more to financial need.

Stanley Bruce set about applying his business principles to his cabinet, putting his experience as both a corporate manager and rowing coach to use in a cabinet system that was orderly and practical.

Stanley Bruce implemented a formal system whereby a proper agenda for cabinet meetings would be formulated, and the minister responsible for each item would circulate papers to bring other members up to speed on the issue.

Cabinet minister George Pearce would later conclude that Stanley Bruce was the best of the prime ministers that he served or opposed in his 38-year parliamentary career.

Stanley Bruce greatly strengthened the research and information-gathering capacity of the executive, and sought to make decisions and policy on the basis of the best available evidence and information.

Stanley Bruce established the Bureau of Economic Research in 1929 and for the first time economists were regularly employed to advise the government on what had been until then exclusively political issues.

Loyal to the concept of the British Empire, Stanley Bruce envisaged strengthening it through mutual economic development, greater political co-operation, and common policies on defence, trade and foreign affairs.

Stanley Bruce put forward a wide range of proposals for stronger co-operation between Great Britain and her dominions in a wide range of areas, particularly in the areas of trade, defence and the formulation of a common foreign policy.

Stanley Bruce particularly desired a greater role for the dominions in imperial affairs, including a collective decision-making body for common questions of defence and foreign affairs.

Stanley Bruce took exception to a lack of involvement in foreign policy decisions made by Britain that would have significant ramifications for Australia.

Stanley Bruce pushed for greater consultation and voice for the dominions, and succeeded in having Richard Casey appointed as a permanent political liaison in London who would have access to British government decisions and act as a conduit between Westminster and Melbourne.

Stanley Bruce successfully lobbied for the creation of a Dominion Office separated out from the Colonial Office to acknowledge the different state of affairs that now existed in the Empire.

Stanley Bruce recognised the empire had reached a turning point, but despite his optimism for a reinvigorated imperial system, there was little interest from other governments.

Stanley Bruce's attitudes were almost the opposite of those held by the leaders of Canada, South Africa and the Irish Free State.

Stanley Bruce had mixed feelings about these developments; on the one hand he believed that the Empire was still a strong and vital international organisation playing a positive role in international affairs, but on the other hand he was disappointed that other member nations did not share his vision or commitment to maintaining its integrity and unity.

Stanley Bruce did have some successes at the conference expanding the work of the Imperial Economic Committee and increasing inter-empire co-operation in technical and scientific areas.

Stanley Bruce frequently called upon both sides to embrace a spirit of co-operation.

Stanley Bruce responded with the Peace Officers Act, which re-established a Commonwealth police force.

Stanley Bruce campaigned for industrial peace and an increased Commonwealth role in securing it, but denounced "foreign agitators" and "class war" in appealing for law and order on the waterfront.

Stanley Bruce openly challenged pre-existing federal arrangements, stating on the campaign trail that Australia "should now consider whether that great historic instrument, the Constitution, meets the needs of to-day in the light of the developments which have taken place".

The campaign was a success and the Stanley Bruce government was easily re-elected, increasing by 11 seats its majority over a disheartened ALP, whose leader Matthew Charlton was in poor health.

Attempts to amend the constitution for this purpose had been rejected narrowly in 1911,1913 and 1919, but against a background of ongoing industrial strife, Stanley Bruce made clear the problems of mixed jurisdiction, confusing dual-awards, and insufficient regulatory and enforcement powers at the Commonwealth level.

Stanley Bruce was undeterred, though, and became convinced that unless costs of production for industry in Australia could be lowered and industrial peace secured, Australia was heading towards a major economic crisis.

The government's existing nine-seat majority shrank during 1928 and 1929 over various issues, as a result of by-elections, and several leading figures who had previously worked with Stanley Bruce became increasingly sharp critics of him.

The worst came with ongoing disputes between miners and mine owners on the coalfields of New South Wales had culminated in riots and lockouts in 1929, and intervention by the Stanley Bruce government failed to produce a settlement.

Attorney-General John Latham pursued legal action against Brown for illegally using coercive industrial tactics, but Stanley Bruce intervened to stop the prosecution, believing the case to be doubtful and that dropping it would give the government a chance to negotiate an end to the dispute.

Stanley Bruce calculated that the states would not give up their powers, and thus the move was one designed to sanction the end of Commonwealth arbitration.

Stanley Bruce defended his actions as being necessary to create certainty and end the duplication that had caused so many problems in recent years.

Stanley Bruce ruled out any referendum, stating that the amendment would constitute a vote of confidence in his government and urged his party to vote it down.

On paper, there was no indication that Stanley Bruce was in any danger of losing his seat; he held Flinders with a reasonably safe majority of 10.7 percent in 1928.

Stanley Bruce was the first sitting prime minister to lose his own seat, a feat which would not be repeated until 2007.

Stanley Bruce returned to England after his defeat to holiday and attend to his business.

Stanley Bruce was appointed assistant treasurer in the new Lyons government, Lyons having taken the treasury portfolio personally.

Stanley Bruce led the Australian delegation to the 1932 Imperial Economic Conference in Ottawa.

Stanley Bruce redoubled his efforts to improve Australian economic prospects with the empire, and the conference agreed to a limited form of his long-sought imperial preference scheme that would give Australia greater access and competitiveness in imperial markets over five years, an achievement for which Bruce received much praise from the Lyons government.

Stanley Bruce was asked at several points during the 1930s to return to Australia by UAP backers and other political figures, who hoped that he could replace Lyons as prime minister.

Stanley Bruce himself had questioned Lyons' health and capacity to execute the role effectively, but he showed little interest in returning.

In 1938 and 1939 Stanley Bruce was approached by senior UAP figures and Lyons himself to return to Australia and assume the leadership of the government, which was struggling under the ailing Lyons, but he either flatly declined or set conditions for his return that were impossible to meet.

In September 1933, Stanley Bruce was appointed by Lyons to replace the ailing Sir Granville Ryrie as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, giving him ambassadorial rank.

Stanley Bruce formally resigned from parliament on 7 October 1933.

Stanley Bruce represented Australia at the League of Nations and successfully lobbied for Australia to participate as a member of the League Council from 1933 to 1936.

Stanley Bruce opposed action against Japan following the invasion of Manchuria in 1933, concerned as to Australia's trading relationship with Japan and the potential future threat it posed to peace in the Pacific.

Stanley Bruce further argued for much greater rearmament efforts in the United Kingdom and France to provide greater military capacity to enforce future decisions by the League.

Stanley Bruce presided as League Council President during the Rhineland Crisis, although attempts to respond to fascist aggression failed.

Stanley Bruce had taken a leading role in promoting agriculture, nutrition and economic co-operation through the League of Nations, working intensively with Frank L McDougall and John Boyd Orr throughout the decade.

The plan was supported by Secretary-General Joseph Louis Anne Avenol, who like Stanley Bruce recognised that the League was rapidly becoming moribund and that a major change of direction was needed, although neither was successful in convincing key states in contributing to the plan.

Critically, new British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain could not be convinced by Stanley Bruce to invest further into the development of the League, and the body began to lose its political impetus as war loomed.

Stanley Bruce would continue to press for League reform in the lead up to the war.

Stanley Bruce had become a close confidant of senior Conservative Party figures Anthony Eden and Neville Chamberlain in this period, and was strident in advancing the opinion of Australia that negotiation and compromise with Nazi Germany was preferable to war.

Stanley Bruce actively participated in the negotiations for the Munich Agreement.

Stanley Bruce demurred and made it the condition of his return that he be allowed to sit in parliament as an independent and lead an all-party unity government.

Churchill saw the dominions as still semi-dependent colonies who were at London's command whereas Stanley Bruce saw the Empire as a kind of international partnership and the dominions as rightful parties to the decision-making process.

However, Stanley Bruce soon became embroiled in the disputes over Churchill's autocratic leadership style and his lack of consultation with the cabinet over war decisions.

Stanley Bruce was regularly left out of cabinet communique or not invited to meetings, much to his displeasure.

Stanley Bruce persisted in this difficult arrangement until May 1944 when he became completely disillusioned and resigned, choosing other forums in which to represent Australia in London.

In spite of his tempestuous relationship with Churchill, Stanley Bruce was held in high regard by many cabinet members, particularly future prime ministers Clement Attlee and Anthony Eden, and his dogged determination to advance dominion interests during the war years earned him high praise from John Curtin and the other dominion prime ministers.

Stanley Bruce had rejoined Frank McDougall and John Boyd Orr in these years in reviving their proposals for international co-operation on nutrition and agriculture.

Stanley Bruce wrote and made representations at all levels on the subject, and became a leading voice once more advocating the creation of an international body to examine social and economic questions, much as he had done during his years with the League of Nations.

Stanley Bruce was now 62 and indicated that he felt himself too old for the position, instead preferring a less demanding role considering economic and social questions.

Stanley Bruce proposed many international schemes as part of this work, particularly a world food reserve and special pricing mechanisms to reallocate and release food to where it was most needed in times of need.

Stanley Bruce's Commission placed a high emphasis on agricultural modernisation, international development aid, commodity agreements and price stability to help starving developing nations in its findings presented in 1947.

Undeterred, Stanley Bruce was elected Chairman of the newly formed FAO Council in November 1947, working once more with John Boyd Orr, now Secretary-General of the FAO.

Stanley Bruce occupied a range of positions in his later years, sharing his time between the United Kingdom and Australia.

Stanley Bruce had been Chairman of the Finance Corporation of Industry since 1946 and continued in the role until 1957, providing finance to projects of benefit to the British national economy.

Stanley Bruce helped establish the program in Australia in 1954 and on a Commonwealth basis in 1956.

Stanley Bruce became the first Chancellor of the newly established Australian National University in 1952, and took an active interest in its development, especially as a research centre for the study of Asia and the Pacific.

Stanley Bruce concluded that Australia's position in the world had changed as a result of World War II, commenting:.

The residential college Stanley Bruce Hall was named in his honour, and he remained active in the life of the university until his retirement from the position in 1961.

Stanley Bruce used it as a platform to continue to campaign on international and national social and economic questions, and to promote recognition and representation for Australia within the Commonwealth, though by this time Australian and British interests were becoming increasingly far apart, and the British Empire was rapidly disintegrating.

Stanley Bruce continued to lobby the British government in these years to increase its commitment to third world development and the FAO.

An avid golfer his whole life, Stanley Bruce became the first Australian captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1954.

Stanley Bruce remained active and in good health right through his retirement despite the gradual onset of deafness, but the death of his wife Ethel in March 1967 took a deep toll on him.

Stanley Bruce died on 25 August 1967 at the age of 84.

Stanley Bruce was the last surviving member of Billy Hughes' Cabinet.

Stanley Bruce's ashes were scattered over Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.

The Melbourne Sun agreed with the assessment, stating upon his death that Stanley Bruce was "probably the least remembered but the most extraordinary of our Prime Ministers".