With the help of my friend, I’ve been finding out more about Douglas Bruce, and his five sisters.Apart from his older brother, Charles Edward, who died at the age of 36, this seems to have been a long-lived family.

(If you’re new to this blog, and you’d like to find out what this is all about, it’ll probably help you to scroll down to the first post about the Mystery Challenge,in which I’m asking readers to help me find out more about the love letters from 1920’s China.)

I’d already discovered that Douglas Bruce was only a couple of months from his 91st birthday when he died in April 1983. A search through the Times Archive for his death notice gave me a unexpected feeling of sadness, as if I were reading about the death of a my own friend or relation.Why should I have felt so moved by reading that brief notice, with its ready-made phrases?

This man had no connection with me or my family, and from what I’ve deduced about his character, based on the documents and photos that randomly ended up in my house, he doesn’t seem to have been a very pleasant young man. At the same time, I was pleased to discover that he’d ‘died peacefully at home’, and hadn’t lived out his last few years in the loneliness of a less-than-caring Institution.

Without any photos of Mr Bruce at this age, I’ve had to make do with this ‘borrowed’ picture from this site Better still, he was a apparently a ‘much loved husband’ – a statement that has partially answered one of my first questions about the man who’d captured the hearts of at least two women in 1920s China. So my next task was to find out as much as I could about his marriage (with my friend’s invaluable help!) Another surprise followed. His wedding took place in 1978, when he was 86! His bride was 62-year-old, Phyllis D Slaughter, who survived him by eight years.

This short message in the Times Death Notices confirms that we have found the ‘real’ Douglas Gordon Bruce of the letters and photos from China. APC South China is The Asiatic Petroleum Company (now Shell), which we know was his employer, but I was rather puzzled by the name ‘Fanlingerers’ with its Edinburgh address, the organisation for donations to be made, instead of funeral flowers.

The Fanlingerers appear to be (or have been) a club for supporters of what is now the Hong Kong Golf Club Fanling.

The mention of ‘much loved uncle’, fits what we know about his siblings. Each of his five sisters was married, and as you can see in this previous post, the young Douglas Bruce was recorded on the 1911 census as living in the household of his sister, Edith, and brother in-law, Douglas Robert Finnis. At that time he already had at least one nephew (Roy Bruce Finnis, aged 3) and one niece, Jean Bruce Finnis, a baby of 9 months). I can picture the 18-year-old young man happily playing with little Roy, before he left for China in about 1915.

This photo, dated 1919, and labelled, Bruce Meyer, (from the box with the letters ) is the son of his close friend, Mr Meyer, and it seems likely that the baby, was named after Douglas Bruce, who would probably have been his godfather. Another of Douglas Bruce’s sisters, Kate Maud, married Vernon Walter Finnis, the brother of Edith’s husband, in 1904, when she was 25, so it would be GREAT if anyone researching the Finnis family was able to find some of ‘Finnis’ nieces and nephews, or their children, who might have known about the life of Douglas Bruce.

I have just discovered that his sister, Alice Mabel, married Walter Ricks, also in 1904, aged 23. The census of 1901, shows Walter Francis Ricks (aged 23) living with his parents and siblings, and working as a ‘Commercial Traveller’. His father was James Ricks (then aged 55)), and has given his occupation as Artist, painter and Sculptor.

A search for Walter Ricks on the 1911 census, has unearthed two more nephews for ‘Uncle Douglas’, James Bruce Ricks, born in 1905, and Donald Bruce Ricks, born in 1910. They lived in Nassau Road in Barnes, not that far from Barrowgate Road, so it seems more than likely that ‘our’ Douglas Bruce would have had some contact with these two little boys, while he was living with his sister, Edith Finnis and her two children – especially as another sister, Ethel Gertrude, was recorded as living in the household of Walter Ricks.

The remaining two of his sisters married quite a lot later (possibly a result of the slaughter of so many young men in W.W.1). Amy Beatrice (the youngest of the five sisters) was married to Charles Oram in 1922 when she was 32, well within the child-bearing age. The next in age, Ethel Gertrude, married four years later to Charles Horton, in 1926 when she was already 38, but still with the possibility of children.

Amy and Ethel both lived to a good old age, Ethel surviving till 85, and Amy at 80. As their deaths were both registered in Worthing, it seems that, as widows, they set up house together . I don’t yet know whether or not they had any children.

I’ll be hoping to find out more about Phyllis, and whether she actually was his first wife, or had married decades earlier to one of his women friends in China or Hong Kong.

I’ll be posting Bessie’s fifth and final letter very soon.

With the help of my friend, I’m still finding out more about Mr Bruce and his relations, but I’ll get back to this research later.
(If you’re new to this blog, and you’d like to find out what this is all about, it’ll probably help you to scroll down to the first post about the Mystery Challenge,in which I’m asking readers to help me find out more about the love letters from 1920’s China.)

In a previous post I mentioned that Bessie had written two more letters to Douglas Bruce after she had told herself that she would not contact him again, so here is the first page of the handwritten version. It does seem that their ‘affair’ had not gone further than the kisses she refers to. The full transcript shows that her marriage to Jimmy had not been entirely happy even before she had met Mr Bruce.

One of the details that I’ve tried to research, is the ‘monastery tower’ she had visited with him – and declared her feelings for him. I came across a site which shows a beautiful porcelain dish with significant landmarks of the old city of Canton.

Bessie’s tower might possibly have been the Zhenhai Tower, which, according to this site, “is a bit of a hassle for a westerner if you don’t do this within a tour that stops right outside”

Here is my transcript of the complete letter.

“Bruce dear,
There isn’t much point in my writing you, but I think I shall feel better if I do. I can’t tell you how sorry I am to have brought you into this mess. Now that Jimmy and I have had it out and he is convinced that I am not absolutely rotten (of course I had to lie to convince him – I said you had kissed me only once – so

I’ve got the seven or eight other times to remember, all to myself) he is doing all he can to make up for his past behaviour and I should be happy – but my dear, dear I’m not. Every time he kisses me I can scarcely keep back my cries to you. I’m not going to see you anymore and I can’t bear to think of it. There is a great hole in my heart – you have the piece that was dug out whether you want it or not.

Of course I had no idea that I cared this much and it surprises me all the time that I do, and I don’t want you to think that I want or expect you to do anything about it. I’ve chosen this way and I’m sure I’m right in doing so. I’ve made you out as a noble person as I could, because you have been so darned decent through it all. Of course it wouldn’t make any difference to you what he thought about you but I wanted him to know that it was fully as much my fault as yours, and I did my best to make him believe it.

Margaret gave me your note yesterday but of course you had Jimmy’s letter by the time I got yours so there was no need for me to do anything about it.

Poor Jimmy.I am much sorrier for him than for myself and you of course will forget all about it soon I hope. If I could just get you out of my mind everything would be all right but I’m not in the least ashamed to say that what I said in the monastery tower I meant.

Good-bye, dear person.
B

There was no use telling Jimmy that I care for you when I had chosen to stay with him, was there? It would only be worse for all three of us, and I did so hope I could keep him from writing that letter to you if I could persuade him that for the last few times we had seen each other there had been nothing between us. Besides, I’m a coward, so don’t like me if you don’t want to.

As you will see if you peer closely at the first handwritten page above, you’ll see that this transcript was written as an afterthought at the top of the first page. Although I know that the man in the picture above is indeed Douglas Bruce, I can’t guarantee that the woman leaning towards him is Bessie.

A BRIEF DIGRESSION from My Mystery Challenge!

Yes, I do have other things to think about - among these, a brief visit to London to catch up with my writing friends, Crysse Morrison - who took this photo (take a look at her blog to find out more).
and Roger Jinkinson (You can read about his own books and his passion for the research into the fascinating real-life story that led to his latest book, American Ikaros) Before meeting up with Crysse on the South Bank, I had time to browse through Poetry books and magazines at the wonderful Saison Poetry Library on Level 5 of the Festival Hall. The reference section seems to have a copy of every poetry book published in Britain since 1912. Without really expecting it, I was amazed to find that my own very slim volume, Single Travellers (Flarestack 2004) was squeezed in on the ‘C’ shelf.

Last week (Wednesday February 17, 2011) I was delighted to receive this praise from writer, Sally Jenkins for my professional publication of Paper Lanterns – and some nice comments about the contents, too! -

There will be another of Bessie’s letters to Mr Bruce next time. Although she had told her friend, Margaret, ‘but I am not going to write to him myself’ she couldn’t resist the temptation.

Today I’ll be giving a few more bits of information that my friend has uncovered for me.
(If you’re new to this blog, and you’d like to find out what this is all about, it’ll probably help you to scroll down to the first post about the Mystery Challenge,in which I’m asking readers to help me find out more about the love letters from 1920’s China.)

I’d not have known that it was even possible to search for an individual name on an ocean liner voyage, let alone one in the early part of the last century, but here is the name, Douglas Gordon Bruce on the passenger list for ‘The Empress of Australia”, sailing from Quebec to Southampton on 30th May 1928.

The list shows that he was returning from China (via Canada) given under the heading: Country of last Permanent Residence. His age is recorded as 36, which tallies with what we’ve learned from earlier censuses and other documents. He gives his Occupation as ‘Merchant’ and this seems to fit in with his employment by The Asiatic Petroleum Company (South China)

I’ve extracted this picture of him from a business group-photo taken in China a year later (April 1929) The final column of the Passenger List is headed ‘Country of Intended Future Permanent Residence’, and is divided into seven possible destinations: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Irish Free State, Other Parts of the British Empire, and Foreign Countries. His row was marked under Other Parts of the British Empire.

As I would have expected, he was travelling 1st class – Mr Bruce would have had a position to maintain, and I can imagine him enjoying the “First-class dining room, which was situated amidships on the Upper deck to avoid noise and vibration”. (This picture was taken from a site that gives useful information about the Canadian Pacific Company and this ship is the Empress of Canada, not the actual one that brought him back to England in 1928.

The trouble with the internet is its potential for time-wasting! I’ve been sidetracked into discovering some fascinating facts about the ships of the Canadian Pacific Company – it includes “A Personal Account of the Sinking of Empress of Canada 13th March 1943” by a survivor, with a footnote about how it brought back memories of the Titanic for him, “There was only one difference that really stuck in my mind – the ‘Titanic’ sank in icy waters, and the ‘Canada’ sank in shark-infested water – but, thank God so many of us survived.’.

It also seems that Mr Bruce has had some kind of a connection with The Empress of Canada, but I’m not yet sure if this would have been the ship, or the Railway train, as both forms of transport carried the name of Canadian Pacific.

This is one of several photos in an envelope inscribed in pencil: “Empress of Canada 1919” above the name:’D G Bruce Esq’
but the link above informs me that this ship’s maiden voyage was to Hong Kong via Falmouth - Suez canal on the 5th May 1922.

I’m pretty sure that the man in the cap is ‘our’ Mr Bruce, and the man sitting on the edge of the platform could be his friend, Mr Meyer.

I’ve borrowed this picture from Google images because I think the platform and background look rather like those in the picture above. The text at the base of this picture states: Dominion Jubilee Camp Tour. en route to Victoria B.C. July 12th 1927.It’s from a website called Guiding Mosaic.It adds that this was a Specially Chartered Canadian Pacific Train, for the very first National camp for Girl Guides across Canada in July 14-21 1927 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Confederation. I’ll resist the temptation of adding Canadian Girl Guides in the 1920s to my list of side-tracking websites.

Next time: Bessie breaks her promise and sends another letter to D G Bruce.

I’m getting more information about Mr Bruce from my friend Mary (see the post below) but today I want to show you the 3rd of Bessie’s love letters to him.

If you’re new to this blog,and you’d like to find out what this is all about, it’ll probably help you to scroll down to the first post about the Mystery Challenge,in which I’m asking readers to help me find out more about the love letters from 1920’s China:

If you compare this handwriting to the previous two letters, you’ll see that it was written by a different woman, her friend, Margaret Hartle. I found this very moving when I read it first (once I’d realised that Margaret was writing to explain to Mr Bruce why he had not heard from Bessie, and that Margaret had included a transcript of a Bessie’s own message to him.

To make this clearer, in my transcript, I’ve used italics for Margaret’s own words, and bold print for Bessie’s.

Dear Mr Bruce,
I sent you a chit Monday afternoon asking you to come over because I have a message from Bessie. Since you didn’t respond, I gather you didn’t receive it. They all had the flu and Big Jimmy developed double pneumonia & pleurisy. He was critically ill. Bessie was ill at the same time. You can imagine what she went through. She says

“It has taken me a long time to get over the flu, but I tell you that the flu was the least of it.
And now I must go back and tell you why you haven’t heard from me before this. I wrote you a letter on the boat telling you how Jimmy suspected that I had something in that box that I didn’t want him to see and full of things about Bruce. Jimmy opened the letter and read it and there was a scene. He was going to leave me at Shanghai & go back to Canton & commit murder, I reckon.

I was paralysed and I think the scene was enough to make me realise that after all, my children come first and I can’t do anything that will make their lives the least bit more difficult than any life must of necessity be. Well I am thinking of no one but them & Jimmy now, & this is easier here than it was in Canton. Jimmy wants me to send Bruce’s picture back, and to ask him for mine.
You can tell Bruce that I will never forget that I know every word of his letter (which I am burning) by heart, and that I really don’t need his picture anyway. It is no plainer than the one I carry in my heart. He must know that I am happy, far happier than I was in Canton and than I have any right to be,

but I know perfectly well that it is not the same kind of happiness that I might have had if he had come in to my life before it was too late.

If you ever have a chance you may tell him this, but I am not going to write to him myself. I told Jimmy that I loved Bruce, but that I love him (Jimmy) more than anything in the world. Perhaps it’s true, perhaps not. I can’t really say. I had so little chance to find out how much I really did love Bruce. But I think I know. Please always give me what news of him you can in a casual way.”

She wrote me another letter which obviously was censored. So I enclose
your picture, and if you will send me the one of her you have I will send it on.

How are you? You looked very pale in Canton. Send me any news of yourself you would like passed on.
I am very happy and well. Wuchow is a pleasant spot although not a metropolis!
Sincerely,
Margaret Hartle
Wuchow
September 23 1920

I would love to find out more about Bessie, though without a surname for her, I think that’s very unlikely, but somebody might be able to shed some light on Margaret Hartle, Bessie’s loyal friend.
Please send this link to anyone who might be interested in reading this, even if you think they won’t be able to help in my Mystery Challenge - 6 Degrees of Separation. (A FREE Copy of Paper Lanterns to anyone who can find fresh information)