Clarence Bruce, 3rd Baron Aberdare

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Clarence Napier Bruce, 3rd Baron Aberdare, GBE (2 August 1885 - 4 October 1957) was a British military officer, cricketer and somewhat notable tennis player.

Bruce received his education at Winchester College and at New College, Oxford, and was admitted as a barrister into Inner Temple; however, when World War I broke out, he decided to enter the British Army. Unfortunately, at this time, his father (Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare) was killed in action on 14 December 1914, and Bruce inherited the title of Baron Aberdare.

Lord Aberdare, who would rise to the substantive rank of captain (and would become an honorary colonel) in World War I, served variously in the Glamorgan Yeomanry, the 2nd Life Guards, the headquarters of the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division and in the Guards MG Regiment; in 1919, immediately after the armistice, he was promoted to captain. He served as the honorary colonel of the 77 (later 282) (Welsh) Heavy AA Brigade, RA from 1930 to 1952; during this period, he additionally served as major of the 11th Battalion, Surrey Home Guards during World War II. Between the two world wars, he was an active tennis player, winning more than fifteen tennis championships in the USA, Canada, and the British Isles.

Simultaneously, Aberdare played an active role in the organisation of the Olympics; he served on the International Olympic Committee, and on the organising committee of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He would serve in many physical education and sportsmen's clubs, and would also be a member of the New College Society. In 1948, he was created a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, and a Commander of the British Empire a year later. In 1954, he was additionally created a Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire, but was killed in a motor accident in Yugoslavia three years later.

[edit] Reference

• Ed. Charles Mosley. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Copyright 2003; Burke's Peerage and Gentry: Wilmington, Delaware.

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Henry Bruce	Baron Aberdare 1929–1957	Succeeded by Morys Bruce