William Speirs Bruce - Marriage and Family Life

Marriage and Family Life

It is uncertain how Bruce was employed after his return from Spitsbergen in autumn 1899. In his whole life he rarely had settled salaried work, and usually relied on patronage or on influential acquaintances to find him temporary posts. Early in 1901 he evidently felt sufficiently confident of his prospects to get married. His bride was Jessie Mackenzie, who had worked as a nurse in Samuel Bruce's London surgery. Bruce's secretive nature, even among his circle of close friends and colleagues, was such that precise information about the wedding—its exact date, its location—has not been recorded by his biographers. However, his marriage has now been found. It took place on the 26 January 1901, at Nigg, in Ross & Cromarty, at the Chapelhill United Free Church after banns. Bruce gave his occupation as Naturalist and Zoologist, son of Samuel Noble Bruce, surgeon MRCS, and a bachelor, while Jessie gave her status as a spinster, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie, master tailor, deceased. Bruce gave his residence as 17 Joppa Road, Portobello, Edinburgh, while Jessie gave hers as Chapelhill, Nigg, and as one of the witnesses was Isabella Mackenzie it would appear that Nigg was Jessie's home parish. (Colin B. Withers).

The Bruces settled in the coastal Edinburgh suburb of Portobello, in the first of a series of addresses in that area. A son, Eillium Alastair, was born in April 1902, and a daughter, Sheila Mackenzie, was born seven years later. During these years Bruce founded the Scottish Ski Club and became its first president. He was also a co-founder of Edinburgh Zoo.

Bruce's chosen life as an explorer, his unreliable sources of income and his frequent extended absences, all placed severe strains on the marriage, and the couple became estranged around 1916. However, they continued to live in the same house until Bruce’s death. Eillium became a Merchant Navy officer, eventually captaining a Fisheries Research Ship which, by chance, bore the name Scotia.