Above is a portrait of my 2nd cousin Elizabeth Oswald's husband, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine (portrait by Anton Graff, approximately 1788). Elizabeth was the sister of General Sir John Oswald and daughter of James Townsend Oswald.

 

Thomas Bruce was born into nobility with his father being Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin and was born at Broomhall Castle (now a small luxury hotel which seems to be what happens to our ancestral homes!), Scotland, on July 20, 1766. He was an ambassador throughout his career serving in Austria, Belgium and Constantinople where he was the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

 

One of of the most notorious things Thomas Bruce is remembered for is the removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Today these same antiquities may be seen at the British Museum in London.

 

Although my cousin Elizabeth was Bruce's second wife, they had four sons and three daughters including James Bruce who became Governor of British North America (the Bruce Peninsula and Bruce County are named after him), Robert Bruce who became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Grenadier Guards and married Katherine-Mary, daughter of Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, 6th Baronet; Sir Frederick Wright-Bruce, diplomat; Thomas Charles Bruce, MP for Portsmouth; Charlotte-Christian who married Frederick Locker, the grandson of Rear Admiral Sir Edward Locker; Augusta Frederica Elizabeth, lady in waiting to Queen Victoria who married Arthur Stanley who became Dean of Westminster. The last daughter was Frances-Anne but I can find no additional information about her.