Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Order of Canada group of twelve to Herbert Maxwell Bruce, O.C., Q.C., formerly, Captain, Royal Canadian Artillery

Canada, Order of Canada, Officer’s neck badge, gold and enamel, reverse officially numbered, ‘1364’, with neck cravat, in case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; Defence; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with clasp; War Medal, M.I.D. oak leaf; Jubilee 1935 (H. M. Bruce); Coronation 1953 (H. M. Bruce), these eight mounted as worn; Canada, Centennial Medal 1867-1967, unnamed as issued, in case of issue; Greece, Red Cross Decoration, Gold Cross, silver-gilt and enamel; Canadian Red Cross Society, Honorary Counsellor’s Badge, silver-gilt and enamel (Maxwell Bruce, O.C., 1967); together with a set of eleven miniature dress medals corresponding to the above less the last, these mounted court style in a Spink, London case, good very fine and better, first scarce (23) £2000-2400

O.C. Canada Gazette 30 September 2000. His citation (Governor-General of Canada’s website) reads, ‘A lawyer, author and environmentalist, he is strongly committed to conservation, peace and disarmament. A legal advisor and volunteer with many non-governmental organizations, he is also a member of the Planning Council of the International Ocean Institute. A member of the founding committee of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, he co-founded two charitable trusts that support marine research and education at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. His sustained efforts to protect and to improve the environment and the human condition serve as an example to all Canadians’.

Herbert Maxwell Bruce was born in Toronto on 24 February 1920. He was the son of Colonel The Hon. Herbert Alexander Bruce, C.A.M.C., Inspector-General Canadian Medical Services 1916-17, Consultant Surgeon to British Armies in France 1917-19, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario 1932-37 and M.P. for Parkdale 1940-46.

Herbert Maxwell was educated at the Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto where he graduated after the war in Law. He served in the Upper Canada College Rifle Battalion, 1933-37, with the rank of Lieutenant and the University of Toronto Contingent Officer’s Training Corps, 1937-40. In the former he is confirmed as being awarded the Jubilee and Coronation medals. He volunteered for active service in 1940 and served in the Royal Canadian Artillery (C.A.S.F.) in Canada, the U.K., Italy and N.W. Europe during 1940-45. Promoted Captain in December 1942, he was posted to Italy as a Staff Officer with the 1st Canadian Corps in February 1944 and was with them in N.W. Europe in March 1945. For his services in North West Europe he was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 4 April 1946).

Postwar, Bruce practiced Law in Toronto and was appointed Queen’s Council. He was for a time President, then Permanent Vice-President and Honorary Counsellor of the Canadian Red Cross and was awarded the Greek Red Cross Decoration. Active in various national and international organizations concerned with international policy, nuclear disarmament and the environment, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. He died on 25 October 2001 as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in which his wife was killed instantly. Sold with copied research.