Profile

BRUCE, Roy Thomas
(Service number 7/22/)

Officers of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles at Addington Camp, Christchurch, August 1914. — Back row: Lieutenants L Chaytor, Taylor, Barker, W Deans, F Gorton, Hayter, D S Murchison.
Second row: Lieutenant Marchant, Captain Talbot, Lieutenant Blackett, Captain Hurst, Captain Hammond, Lieutenant Free, Lieutenant Bruce.
Sitting: Major Wain (O.C. 8th Sqd.), Captain Cody (Q.M.), Major Overton (2nd in Command), Lieutenant-Colonel Findlay (C.O.), Captain Blair (Adjutant), Major Acton-Adams (O.C. 1st Sqd.), Major Hutton (O.C. 10th Sqd.).
Front row: Lieutenant Gibbs (Signalling Officer), Tommy the mascot, Lieutenant Davison (Machine Gun Officer), Lieutenant G Dailey. (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, PAColl-5268-2-01 )

Aliases
First Rank	Lieutenant	Last Rank

Birth

Date	18 December 1880	Place of Birth	Bombay, India

Enlistment Information

Date	13 August 1914	Age	33 years 8 months
Address at Enlistment	6 Campbell Street, Timaru
Occupation	Land agent
Previous Military Experience	8th New Zealand Contingent South Africa - discharged on termination of War. 8th South Canterbury Mounted Rifles - still serving.
Marital Status	Married. One daughter
Next of Kin	Mrs Maud Goodenough BRUCE (wife), 6 Campbell Street, Timaru; later 281 George Street, Dunedin
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 10¾ inches. Weight 147 lbs. Chest measurement 33-37 inches. Complexion dark. Eyes hazel. Hair black. Sight - both eyes 6/6. Hearing & colour vision both good. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart & lungs normal. Teeth good. free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated. Good bodily & mental health. No slight defects.Right testicale atrophia(?).

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From	Lyttelton, Canterbury	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egyptian; Balkan (Gallipoli); Egyptian Expeditionary Force
Service Medals	1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date	23 July 1919	Reason	Transferr to Imperial Army approved by the War Office dating from 23rd July.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	29 November 1945	Age	64 years
Place of Death	33 Rue Abbassides, Alexandria, Egypt
Cause
Notices	Times, 18 December 1945
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Roy Thomas BRUCE was born on 18 December 1880, in Bombay, India. He married Maud Goodenough Hayter on 3 February 1909 at Burkes Pass, Mackenzie Country. Their daughter Helen Eugenie Bruce was born on 5 December 1909 at Timaru, but some years later Roy and Maud were divorced in 1925/26 in Dunedin.

In March 1915 Roy was one 16 members of the Timaru Golf Club who had gone to the front and were now placed on the honorary members list, without subscription, during their absence. Letters Roy wrote to his wife during the war, dating from 1914 to 1919, are shared by the University of Canterbury online at https://editions.canterbury.ac.nz/pages/browse.html

A Roll of Honour board containing their names was erected in the golf house.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [25 November 2013]; N Z Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5530 0019560) [10 October 2014], N Z Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5568 0135225) [10 & 16 October 2014, 16 June 2017]; Timaru Herald, 28 February 1911, 30 March 1915, 30 March 1916, 26 July 1917, 1 September 1917, 18 October 1917, 22 April 1918, Dominion, 19 January 1912, Star, 26 July 1915, 11 April 1916, 21 September 1916, Oamaru Mail, 13 January 1917, Evening Post, 21 December 1917, 22 February 1919, Otago Daily Times, 9 February 1918, 1 March 1919, 3 & 16 February 1926, Press, 5 September 1918, 21 November 1929 (Papers Past) [29 May 2015; 12 & 31 May 2016; 17 June 2017]; Death notice (Times? Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, England, per ancestry.com.au) [20 May 2016]; SCRoll web submission by M Smith, 27 October 2024

External Links

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