Family Group Sheet

Husband         John BRUCE [AN018]
Born	1844-1845, Caputh parish, Perthshire, Scotland.
Chr.
Married	19 Apr. 1867, Scoonieburn, Perth, Scotland (United Presbyterian Church banns)
Died	23 Jun. 1912, Cowgate, Errol, Perthshire, 68 yrs.
Buried	Errol burying ground, plot 208.
Husband’s Father     John BRUCE [AN036], labourer		Husband’s Mother    Elisabeth ROBERTSON [AN037]
Other wives  none

Notes:  Railway wagon shunter 1867, 1868, 1869.  Living at 303 High Street, Perth (1867), 12 Pomarium, Perth (1869), 31 Pomarium, Perth (1872). Policeman, 1872.  Living at, and superintendent of, Dunfermline Slaughterhouse, 1876.  1881 living with wife and four children at Shore Road, Perth, in brother-in-law's David Taylor's (harbourmaster's) house.  Living at Seaside, Errol parish, Perthshire, in gardener's cottage, 1901.  Moved into Errol village and stayed on Cowgate.  Then moved, still on Cowgate, into house owned by son-in-law James Scotland Symon, where occupied one floor of a two floor house, until death in 1912.  Described in wife's death certificate in 1918 as having been an agricultural labourer. 

 

Wife                 Elisabeth TAYLOR [AN019]
Born	1835-1836, Forteviot, Perthshire, Scotland.
Chr.
Died	30 May 1918, 80 yrs, Royal Infirmary, Perth, Scotland; usual res. Cowgate, Errol, Perthshire, Scotland.
Buried	Errol burying ground., plot 208
Wife’s Father          William TAYLOR [AN038], salmon fisher		Wife’s Mother      Ann HALL [AN039]
Other husbands   none

Notes: Laundry maid at time of marriage (1867)

 

Children
Sex     Name	Born	Married	Died
1 F  Ann BRUCE (Annie)	21 Jan. 1868, 82 South Street, Perth, Scotland. (B/387-/1868/73 Perth)	31 Dec. 1896, Torwood, Birnam, Perthshire: John SMITH	24 Jan. 1941, 74 yrs, Daleally farm cottages, Errol, Perthshire.
2 F  Elizabeth Robertson BRUCE	25 Aug. 1869, 12 Pomarium, Perth, Scotland. (B/387-/1869/572 Perth)	Single, died young.	11 January 1886, Shore, Perth, aged 16 yrs.
3 F  Mary BRUCE	27 May 1872, 31 Pomarium, Perth, Scotland. (B/387-/1872/322 Perth)	26 Jun. 1896, Torwood Place, Birnam, Perthshire. (Church of Scotland banns):  Mary BRUCE, domestic servant (spinster), 24,  Kilspindie, daur of John BRUCE, labourer, and Elizabeth BRUCE, maiden surname TAYLOR; and John SIMPSON, railway stoker (bachelor), 24, Perth, son of John SIMPSON, mason, and Helen Simpson, maiden surname McINTOSH.  (M/1896/373-/4 Little Dunkeld)	20 December 1957, Leith, aged 85 yrs.  (Husband John Simpson died 13 Jan 1932, Perth)
4 F  Isabella BRUCE [AN009]	21 Jul. 1876, Public Slaughter House, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. (B/xxx/1876/382 Dunfermline)	29 Dec. 1899, Inver, Birnam, Perthshire.    James Simpson Scotland SYMON [AN008]. 3 sons and 3 daughters (one died in infancy).   Scot and Bella Symon named their family home on High Street, Errol, "Inverlea".  The ground floor today is Miguel's convenience shop.	15 Feb. 1940, Inverlea, High Street, Errol, Perthshire, aged 63 years.

 

Created 29 Nov. 2010, and updated 7 January & 27 May 2015 & 13 Dec 2016, by Peter Symon.

References:

John Bruce's Petition about Perth Police Force Trousers, Boots and Wages

 

One of the curious things about John Bruce's career was why he should have given up being a police officer in Perth to become superintendent of a public slaughterhouse in a county he had no known connection with (Fife), especially after having previously worked his way up to the police from the physically dangerous and demanding work of wagon shunting on the railways.    The higher wage of the slaughterhouse job is an obvious "pull" factor, but another clue as to a possible "push" factor for leaving the police may be found in the complaint made to the Perth Police Commissioners in 1871 of 26 police officers in the Burgh, amongst them, one John Bruce. 

 

Petition from Perth Police Force 1871 to Hon. Lord Provost, Magistrates & Town Council of Burgh of Perth, as Police Commissioners thereof,

 

"Humbly sheweth,

                                    That your Petitioners are in receipt of the lowest wages of any Burgh Police Force in Scotland as appears from a Table shewing the rates of wages of Burgh Police Forces hereto attached.

Table Shewing the rates of pay allowed to the Inspectors, Detectives, Sergeants, and Constables, in the Principal Burghs in Scotland [extracts].

Constable, per week

First Class                               Second Class                        Third Class

Perth (County)                  £1  1s  0d                                £0  19s  0d                             £0  18s  0d

         Perth (City)                        £0  19s 0d                               £0  17s  6d                             £0  16s  0d

 

15 other Burghs  including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Greenock, Paisley, Leith, Airdrie, Stirling:

lowest                                 £0  19s  0d  (Stirling)           £0 18s 0d (4 Burghs)         £0  17s  0d (Hawick)

highest                               £1   2s  0d   (Leith)                £1  0s  0d  (5 Burghs)         £0  19s  0d (Edinburgh)

      That your Petitioners receive one pair of boots annually as part of their wages.  That one pair of Boots annually is not more than one third of the Boots required by your Petitioners.  That in lieu of Boots other Police Forces receive sixpence per week as Boot money.

      That in other Burghs such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, each member of the Police Forces receives two paris of trousers annually.  That your petitioners only receive one pair of trousers annually."

 

The Petitioners asked for a fair raise in wages "also to allow each of the Petitioners sixpence per week in addition to their wages in lieu of the pair of Boots supplied to them annually; and also to allow each of the Petitioners one pair of trousers every eight months instead of one pair of trousers annually as at present."

 

House Rent, Taxes and Provisions in Perth "are at least as high as in any other Burgh in Scotland".  Other Police Foces had recently received wage rises. 

 

Signed  by : John McDonald, Inspector;  George Mearns, Inspector; three Sergeants; two Detectives; & 19 Constables, including John Bruce.

 

[Source: P&K Council Archives, PE17/Bundle 55]