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Home / People / Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin

Historical person

Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin

1849–1917

Victor Alexander Bruce inherited the earldoms of Elgin and Kincardine as a teenager and entered public life as a Liberal. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, he served as First Commissioner of Works before being appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of India in 1894, following a family tradition of imperial administration established by his father.

Elgin’s Indian administration was dominated in part by the frontier risings of 1897–1898. Afridi attacks and the seizure of the Khyber Pass helped trigger the Tirah Expedition, one of the largest British Indian frontier operations of the period. After returning to Britain he chaired the commission investigating the conduct of the South African War and later served as Colonial Secretary.

Victor Bruce appears in John Wilcox’s Bayonets Along the Border, where Viceroy Elgin entrusts Simon Fonthill with a diplomatic mission during the frontier uprising of 1897. Simon and Alice Fonthill travel with Jenkins to an anniversary gathering of the Guides, only to find the frontier sliding into revolt. While Simon is away, attacks spread through the passes and Alice is captured by the religious leader driving part of the uprising, turning a political assignment into a desperate rescue across hostile mountain country.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin (1 series)

Simon Fonthill in Order

by John Wilcox 13 books 4.2(4,074)

The Simon Fonthill series follows an unconventional British officer and intelligence scout through the wars and crises of the late Victorian and Edwardian empire. Beginning in southern Africa in 1879, Simon Fonthill and his Welsh comrade ‘352’ Jenkins move from regular army service into scouting, diplomacy and irregular…

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