Tom Bruce

Thomas Fraser Bruce (1885 – 12 October 1917) was an Australian rugby league footballer in the New South Wales Rugby League competition and an Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) officer who fell in World War I at the Battle of Passchendale.

Early life and football career

Born in Braidwood, New South Wales to parents Robert and Margaret Bruce, the family relocated to Sydney. His mother later lived in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. He lived at 28 Yurong Street with his wife Marry Maud and worked as a tram conductor.

A , Bruce played in nineteen matches for the Eastern Suburbs club in the years 1909-1912 alongside Dally Messenger. He was the 28th player for the Eastern Suburbs club. Enlisted to the Australian 36th Infantry Battalion he rose from private to corporal with three months, and to sergeant six months later. He was wounded in action in Belgium at the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and rejoined his unit in August 1917 at which point he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant, less than eighteen months after enlistment . He was killed in action, early in the first day of the First Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on 12 October 1917 after establishing a forward command post aged 32 years. This would have made the older Thomas fourteen years of age when his son Thomas John was born. Perhaps one, or both Thomas Bruce was lying about his age at enlistment.