Lady Mary Elizabeth Bruce (nee Steele)

Abstract

Mary Elizabeth Bruce (nee Steele) (1849-1931) was co-worker with her husband Sir David Bruce. She made important and often vital scientific contributions to her husband's work. She was a microbiologist. In the South African War the husband and wife were in Ladysmith, where Bruce was in command of a large military hospital and acted as operating surgeon, whilst his wife was sister-in-charge of the operating theatre. For her nursing work she was afterwards awarded the Royal Red Cross. During 1908 and 1911 they worked on trypanosomiasis in Uganda and Nyasaland. In the First World War they did important work together on the aetiology and control of trench fever and tetanus. Lady Bruce was awarded the O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) for her scientific work. (Source: Wives of Some Famous Doctors / Sir Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 52)