H. E. B. Bruce-Porter

Sir Harry Edwin Bruce Bruce-Porter (5 February 1869 – 15 October 1948) K.B.E., C.M.G., M.D. was a British physician and writer.

Early life and education

Harry Edwin Bruce Porter (later Bruce-Porter) was born at Woolwich on 5 February 1869, third son of Captain Joseph Porter (d. 1905), of the Royal Artillery. He was educated at the London Hospital and qualified in 1892. Bruce-Porter won numerous scholarships including the Anatomy-Physiology Scholarship (1889-1890) and Practical Anatomy Scholarship (1891-1892) at London Hospital Medical College. He also won the Duckworth Nelson Scholarship in Practical Medicine and Surgery (1892-1893), a Scholarship in Clinical Medicine (1892-1893) and Hon. Mention Military Medicine and Clinical Medicine and Surgery from Netley Hospital in 1898.

Career Bruce-Porter joined the Army Medical Staff and was promoted to surgeon-captain. Similar to Lane he promoted dietary reform ideas and was a leading activist for The Sunlight League. He is quoted as saying that the "best all-round diet is one made up of wholemeal bread, butter, milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit and cheese". He was an advocate of fasting and opened a fasting centre at Preston Deanery Hall, Northampton.

Bruce-Porter died on 15 October 1948 in Somerset.

Selected publications

Preventable Disease in the Home (1921) Periodical Examination for Assurance Companies. In William Arbuthnot Lane. Blazing the Health Trail (1929) The Foundations of Health (1939) The Hygiene of Life and Safer Motherhood (with William Arbuthnot Lane, 1934)