Stanley Bruce

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Stanley Melbourne Bruce

Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne (born April 15, 1883 in Melbourne , Victoria , † August 25, 1967 in London , England ) was an Australian politician and diplomat and the 8th Prime Minister of the country. His term of office lasted from February 9, 1923 to October 22, 1929.

Life

Before he became Prime Minister (until February 1923)

Stanley Bruce was born in Melbourne as the fifth and youngest child of John Munro Bruce. His father was a well-known businessman of Scottish descent who was part owner of an import company. So it was possible for Stanley Bruce to attend the Melbourne Grammar School , where he excelled both mentally and athletically. In 1901, when he graduated from school, his father died. After almost a year in the company, which had now been taken over by an older brother, he moved to London with his mother and sister. In January 1903, he resumed his studies in law at Trinity College of Cambridge University on. A year later he was a participant in the traditional Boat Race . After completing his studies in 1906, Stanley Bruce became a barrister and also heads the London branch of the family business.

In 1913 he married Ethel Dunlop Anderson, a native of Melbourne. The marriage, however, remained childless.

After the outbreak of World War I , Stanley Bruce joined the British armed forces as a volunteer. He was wounded during the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 and then returned to London. For his war service he received the Military Cross (Great Britain) and the Croix de guerre with Palme (France).

In 1917 Stanley Bruce returned with his wife to Melbourne, where he campaigned for the recruitment campaign after the failed introduction of conscription in Australia . In this context, the Nationalist Party of Australia (NAT) became aware of him. As early as May 11, 1918, he was able to win the Flinders constituency in by-elections as a candidate for this party and move into the House of Representatives. In the following parliamentary elections in December 1919 he was able to defend his mandate. A good two years later, on December 21, 1921, Prime Minister Billy Hughes appointed him as Treasury Secretary in his cabinet . Another year later, the Nationalist Party lost an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections, so that it had to rely on a coalition partner, the Country Party (CP). However, since this did not accept Billy Hughes, this had to leave Stanley Bruce chairman of the Nationalist Party and the office of Prime Minister.

The time as Prime Minister (February 1923 to October 1929)

A great merit to Stanley Bruce was to maintain his coalition government for a total of 6 ½ years. To do this, he worked closely and effectively with the Party Chairman of the Country Party (CP) , Earle Page . To maintain his power, he also took advantage of the increasing public fear of communist tendencies and aggressive trade unions , which spread as a result of the Russian October Revolution of 1917. In this way he was able to win the next two parliamentary elections in November 1925 and 1928.

Stanley Bruce's goal was to set the tone, especially in economic policy, and so he developed ambitious plans. British immigrants were initially intended to broaden Australia's workforce. At the same time, increased amounts of British investment funds were directed to Australia in order to improve the country's infrastructure, which was still relatively simple to date . As a result, economic output and exports have increased. Stanley Bruce's government went on a strong confrontation course with the unions. This policy was successful, albeit not a resounding one, as it was not possible for him to achieve a preference for Australian exports within the British Empire .

In addition, it was a major domestic political task of the Bruce government to move the seat of government of Australia from Melbourne to Canberra , which was founded in 1913 especially for this purpose. Due to the First World War , there were repeated major delays in this project. So the city has now been further developed and expanded. Finally, in May 1927, the relocation was completed with the ceremonial inauguration of the new parliament building.

The Bruce government overthrew on September 10, 1929, in an attempt to transfer industrial policy back from the federal government to the countries of Australia in view of the meanwhile deteriorating economic situation. Billy Hughes and five other MPs from the Nationalist Party refused to support this bill and voted with the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) .

The resulting early elections to the House of Representatives on October 12, 1929 led to Bruce's severe defeat. He even lost his own Flinders constituency in these elections, making him the only Australian Prime Minister to date to have this happened.

The time after he was Prime Minister (from October 1929)

In the general election in December 1931, Stanley Bruce won back his parliamentary mandate, but had no prospect of returning to prime minister due to the fact that Joseph Lyons had run as opposition leader in the elections. However, under Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister since January 6, 1932, Stanley Bruce received a ministerial post. However, he gave up this post as early as 1933 together with his parliamentary mandate to go to London as High Commissioner of Australia , an office which he held for 12 years until after the end of the Second World War in 1945. But that did not end his political career.

On March 18, 1947, Stanley Bruce as Viscount Bruce of Melbourne , of Westminster Gardens, in the City of Westminster in the hereditary nobility collected and was the first Australian to a seat in the British House of Lords received.

1945 became the founding chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organization , a UN specialized agency . He also represented Australia's interests in various other United Nations organizations .

He was also the first chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra, which was founded in 1951. He remained entrusted with this task until 1961.

He died almost six months after his wife on August 25, 1967 in London, England. Since he had no children, his title of nobility expired on his death. In his honor, this is Cape Bruce named in Antarctica.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Bruce, Stanley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bruce, Stanley Melbourne, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian politician and prime minister
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne , Victoria
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1967
Place of death London , England