Robert Bruce, Lord Kennet
Robert Bruce of Kennet, Lord Kennet FRSE (24 December 1718 – 8 April 1785) was a Scottish advocate, legal scholar and judge.
Life[edit]
Bruce was born in Edinburgh on 28 December 1718, the son of Mary Balfour, daughter of Robert Balfour, 4th Lord Burleigh and Alexander Bruce of Kennet (1691-1747).[1][2]
He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in January 1743. He served as Professor of Law of Nature and Nations at the University of Edinburgh (1758–64) and was appointed Sheriff-Depute of Stirling & Clackmannan in 1760.[3] He was elected a Senator of the College of Justice, as Lord Kennet, in 1764 and Lord of Justiciary in 1769.
In 1783 he was a founder member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His Edinburgh address at this time was at George Square.[4]
He died at Kennet House on 8 April 1785.
Family[edit]
He married Helen Abercromby (b. 1731) 6 June 1754.[5][6] They had seven sons and one daughter, including his heir, Alexander (1755-1808) who was born in Edinburgh. [7] The remaining six children were born between 1757 and 1771 at Kennet House. [8]
Bruce was the uncle of James Abercromby, 1st Baron Dunfermline (1776-1858). His brothers-in-law included James Stuart-Mackenzie (1719–1800), Alexander Abercromby, Lord Abercromby (1745–1795), James Edmonstone (d.1793) and Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet (1712-1781) who had married his older sister Margaret (b. 1716). [9]
Notes[edit]
- ^ An Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice: Brunton, Haig and Lockhart
- ^ National Records of Scotland OPR Births 685/1 Edinburgh, p. 252 of 297, and NRS OPR Births 685/1 Edinburgh, p. 292 of 396.
- ^ George Brunton; David Haig; James S. Lockhart (1836). An Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice: From Its Institution in MDXXXII. Edinburgh Printing Company. p. 528.
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1784
- ^ C D Waterston; A Macmillan Shearer (July 2006). Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783–2002: Part 1 (A–J) (PDF). ISBN 090219884X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ National Records of Scotland OPR Births 683-30/154 and Marriages 466-30/292.
- ^ The National Records of Scotland Old Parish Records 685/1-290/45.
- ^ The National Records of Scotland Old Parish Records 466/30-111 to 169 and 466/40-20.
- ^ The National Records of Scotland Old Parish Records 685/1-160/180.
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