Michael Bruce (1787–1861) was a British adventurer, who gained the nickname "Lavelette Bruce" for his part in smuggling Antoine Marie Chamans, comte de Lavalette out of France at the time of the Bourbon Restoration. He is now largely remembered as a lover of Lady Hester Stanhope. He was a Member of Parliament in 1830–1.

Life

Born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...

where his father was a merchant, he was the son of

Patrick Craufurd Bruce Patrick Craufurd Bruce (24 January 1748 – 30 March 1820) was a Member of Parliament in the early 19th century. He represented three constituencies; Evesham, Rye and Dundalk. Life He planted vast forests in Berkshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, O ...

and his wife Jane Smith, and was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

. He matriculated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

in 1806. Later, in 1821, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1826. Bruce did not complete a degree at Cambridge, after a year or so beginning to travel in Europe. It was during his voyages in the Mediterranean and Near East that he encountered Lady Hester Stanhope, on

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1810. They lived together for three years, spent on trips that included Damascus and

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early seco ...

. They parted in 1813. Moving to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and then

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, Bruce took part in the successful plot to smuggle the Comte de Lavalette out of France: he was a supporter of Napoleon condemned by the Bourbons. When Bruce was put on trial for this offence in 1816, he received a sentence of three months. His reputation, however, was not badly sullied, and Lord Palmerston, a college friend, acted as his best man two years later. Bruce then went in for Whig party politics, as a friend of John Cam Hobhouse, but hampered by the collapse of his father's bank in 1816. In the end the

Marquess of Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in Northeast Ohio along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the U.S. maritime border ...

, who had in recent years moved from the Whigs to supporting the Tory ministry, found him the seat of in 1830. His patron then switching to support for reform, Bruce made himself conspicuous for his reluctance to do the same. He was replaced by Cleveland for the

1831 general election {{Short description, None The following elections occurred in the year 1831. North America United States * United States Senate election in New York, 1831 South America * 1831 Chilean presidential election Europe * 1831 French legislative electi ...

, and left public life.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Michael 1787 births 1861 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge UK MPs 1830–1831 Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies