The Bruce Lockhart family is of Scottish origins, and several members have played rugby football for Scotland, but since the early 20th century most have lived and worked in England or Canada, or else overseas, in India, Malaya, Australia, Russia, Rhodesia, Fiji, and elsewhere.

Origins

The first of the family to combine the two names was the schoolmaster Robert Bruce Lockhart (1858—18 Nov 1949), born at Montreal in Upper Canada and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, who was the son of Robert Arthur Lockhart (1832–1904) and Annabella Wilson (1833–1888), both of whom had been born in Glasgow and died in Edinburgh. His mother was a daughter of William Wilson and Annabella Bruce (1807–1884) herself a daughter of James Hamilton Bruce (1783–1823), who was a great-great-grandson of Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine. He was descended from Thomas Bruce, 1st Baron of Clackmannan, as are most Bruces, including the Chiefs of Clan Bruce. Thomas Bruce is known to have been related to Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), king of Scotland, but how is not clear. Lockhart was headmaster of several schools: first the Waid Academy, at Anstruther, then Spier's School, Beith, a new school. In 1895 he founded Seafield House Preparatory School at Broughty Ferry, and in 1906 bought Eagle House School, at Sandhurst, Berkshire. For Lockhart, the name Bruce was a middle Christian name, celebrating distinguished ancestors, and most of his sons also had it as a middle name, their surname as registered at the General Register Office remaining simply Lockhart. However, by the use of the name by almost all the men of the family, and later by all its daughters, too, the name Bruce has come to be regarded as part of the surname, in some cases leading to the adoption of a hyphen.

Family character

In his book Dragon Days (2013), James Bruce Lockhart sums up the family character when he arrived at the Dragon School in 1949: "The Bruce Lockhart family were schoolmasters, imperial soldiers, and diplomats, they taught, directed, and administered; and they played games in their spare time; muscular Christianity was their thing."

Family members

Robert Bruce Lockhart married Florence Stewart McGregor (1864–1928), who had been born in Riverton, New Zealand. Both were Scottish by descent, and in My Scottish Youth, their eldest son claimed "There is no drop of English blood in my veins." Their children and descendants are: