Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin

His Excellency The Right Honourable The Earl of Elgin KG GCSI GCIE PC
Victor Bruce, c. 1897
Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office 10 December 1905 – 12 April 1908
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Preceded by	Alfred Lyttelton
Succeeded by	The Earl of Crewe
Viceroy and Governor-General of India
In office 11 October 1894 – 6 January 1899
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	The Marquess of Lansdowne
Succeeded by	The Lord Curzon of Kedleston
Personal details
Born	(1849-05-16)16 May 1849 Montreal, Canada East, Province of Canada
Died	18 January 1917(1917-01-18) (aged 67) Dunfermline, Fife, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Lady Constance Carnegie ​ ​ (m. 1876; died 1909)​ Gertrude Sherbrooke ​ (m. 1913)​
Children	12, including Edward
Parent(s)	James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin Lady Mary Louisa Lambton
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford

Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, 13th Earl of Kincardine, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC (16 May 1849 – 18 January 1917), known as Lord Bruce until 1863, was a right-wing British Liberal politician who served as Viceroy of India from 1894 to 1899. He was appointed by Prime Minister Arthur Balfour to hold an investigative enquiry into the conduct of the Boer War in 1902 to 1903. The Elgin Commission was the first of its kind in the British Empire, and it travelled to South Africa and took oral evidence from men who had actually fought in the battles. It was the first to value the lives of the dead and to consider the feelings of mourning relatives left behind, and it was the first occasion in the history of the British Army that recognised the testimony of ordinary soldiery as well as that of the officers.^[1]