Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin. Portrayed by Anton Graff (around 1788).

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, 11th Earl of Kincardine (born July 20, 1766 , † November 14, 1841 in Paris ) was a British peer , officer and diplomat . He was notorious during his lifetime for bringing archaeological art treasures from Greece to Great Britain.

Life

He was the second-born son of Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin (1732–1771) from his marriage to Martha Whyte. He was still a minor when, after the death of his father in May 1771, when his older brother William Bruce, 6th Earl of Elgin (1764–1771) died in July 1771, his Scottish nobility title was 7th Earl of Elgin , 11th Earl of Kincardine , 9th Lord Bruce of Kinloss and 11th Lord Bruce of Torry, and inherited the dignity of Chief of Clan Bruce .

He attended Harrow School and Westminster School in London and studied at the Universities of St. Andrews and Paris . In 1785 he joined the British Army as an ensign of the Scots Guards . During the coalition wars he was from 1794 to 1804 owner of an infantry regiment called the "Elgin Regiment of Fencible Highlanders". In 1809 he rose to the rank of major general , in 1814 to lieutenant general and in 1837 to general .

From 1790 to 1807 and again from 1820 to 1841 he was an elected Scottish Representative Peer member of the British House of Lords . He was a member of the Tories party . In 1799 he was accepted into the Privy Council .

His diplomatic career began when he was sent as a special envoy to Emperor Leopold II in 1790 . From 1792 he served as envoy to the government of the Austrian Netherlands in Brussels and from 1795 to the Prussian royal court in Berlin . In 1799 he was offered a post as ambassador at the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire on the condition that he marry beforehand. For this purpose he hastily married Mary Nisbet († 1855), 14 years his junior, in the same year. Soon after his arrival in Constantinople , he lost a large part of his nose as a result of an unknown disease, so that his face was disfigured for life.

During his tenure in the Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1803, with the consent of the Ottoman government, he had investigations of archaeological art treasures from ancient Greece to be examined and documented and from 1801 he received permission to carry out extensive excavations. With a generous interpretation of his powers, he did not limit himself to the scientific investigation of the finds and the production of casts , but rather brought many art treasures outside the country, thereby enriching his private art collection in his Scottish country house. The showpiece, the marble sculptures of the Parthenon Temple, the so-called “ Elgin Marbles ”, recovered from the Acropolis of the city of Athens , which at that time belonged to the Ottoman Empire , was gradually reduced between 1802 and 1812 at his own expense of around £ 74,000 Disembark Britain . He offered the Elgin Marbles to the British Museum in London , which, after some hesitation, bought them in 1816 for £ 35,500. Lord Elgin became trustee ( trustee ) of the British Museum in 1816 and was president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland from 1823 .

His approach earned Lord Elgin severe criticism from his contemporaries during his lifetime. Lord Byron even scolded him in “ Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ” as a “cultural barbarian”. Elgin justified himself by saying that he only wanted to save the art treasures endangered by the Turkish-Greek war . The Greeks were not in a position to reliably protect them, so that his intervention was necessary to save the excavations for eternity. Since then, the theft of cultural assets has been referred to in many places as "Elginism".

Lord Elgin himself was taken prisoner by the French in January 1803 on his return from the embassy in Constantinople to Great Britain and remained interned until 1806. Meanwhile, his young wife Mary Nisbet made off with a lover. The marriage ended in divorce in 1808 and remarried in 1810. In 1807 he held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Fifeshire .

When he died in Paris in 1841, his son from his first marriage had died childless the year before, which is why his eldest son from his second marriage, James Bruce , inherited his title of nobility.

Marriages and offspring

On March 11, 1799 he married Mary Nisbet (1778-1855), heir to William Hamilton Nisbet, from Dirleton, great-granddaughter of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland . They had a son and three daughters:

• George Charles Constantine Bruce, Lord Bruce (1800–1840), not married;
• Lady Mary Bruce († 1883) ⚭ 1828 Rt. Hon. Robert Dundas , of Bloxham († 1877), MP ;
• Lady Matilda-Harriet Bruce († 1857) ⚭ 1839 Sir John Maxwell, 8th Baronet , of Pollok († 1865), MP;
• Lady Lucy Bruce (1806–1881) ⚭ 1828 John Grant, of Kilgraston and Pikeathly († 1873).

The first marriage was dissolved by a resolution of parliament in 1808 due to his wife's adultery. On September 21, 1810 he married Elizabeth Oswald (1790-1860), the youngest daughter of James Townsend Oswald , of Dunnikier. They had four sons and three daughters:

• James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863);
• Maj. Gen. Hon. Robert Bruce (1813–1862) ⚭ Katherine-Mary († 1869), second daughter of Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, 6th Baronet;
• Hon. Sir Frederick Wright-Bruce (1814–1867), diplomat, died single;
• Hon. Thomas Charles Bruce (1825-1862), MP;
• Lady Charlotte Christian Bruce († 1872) ⚭ 1850 Frederick Locker († 1895);
• Lady Augusta Frederica Elizabeth Bruce († 1876), lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria , ⚭ 1863 Very Rev. Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster ;
• Lady Frances Anna Bruce († 1872) ⚭ 1855 Evan Baillie, of Dochfour (1824–1874).

literature

• Warwick William Wroth: Bruce, Thomas (1766-1841) . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 7, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1886, pp. 130-131.
• Luciana Gallo: Lord Elgin and Ancient Greek Architecture. The Elgin Drawings at the British Museum . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2009. Review. David Cast, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009-09-16

Web links

Commons : Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• General Thomas Bruce, 11th Earl of Kincardine on thepeerage.com
• Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of Elgin, British diplomat . Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
• Mary Beard: Lord Elgin - Savior or Vandal? BBC History, 2011.

predecessor	Office	successor
William Bruce	Earl of Elgin Earl of Kincardine 1771-1841	James Bruce