Robert Bruce (New Zealand politician)
Robert Cunningham Bruce was a Scottish-born sailor, New Zealand politician and conservationist.
Born in East Lothian, Scotland, Bruce's family moved to County Cork, Ireland, when he was seven years of age. He became an apprentice sailor at 13, leaving London on an East Indiaman. He eventually arrived in New Zealand on the Blue Jacket in 1860.
After working in the goldfields of New Zealand and Queensland, he went to the United States where he remained for several years. In 1877 he returned to New Zealand, buying land in Paraekaretu in the Manawatu region.
Bruce was an independent conservative Member of Parliament in the Manawatu region of New Zealand. He represented the Rangitikei electorate from to 1890. He contested the in the electorate, but was beaten by the incumbent, George Hutchison. He stood in the 1891 Egmont by-election but was beaten by Felix McGuire.
The Rangitiki electorate, meanwhile, had been won by Douglas Hastings Macarthur in 1890, but Macarthur died on 24 May 1892. The resulting was won by Bruce. He served until the end of the parliamentary term in 1893 when he retired. He was one of three candidates to contest the new electorate in the, but he was narrowly beaten by John Stevens. He challenged Stevens again in the but was again defeated.
Bruce was a notable pioneer of the Manawatu District, who preserved several native forest remnants, including Bruce Park Scenic Reserve. Late in his life, he wrote a book about his experiences at sea. He died at his homestead Carrick in the Wanganui suburb of St. Johns Hill on 23 April 1917.
