BRUCE, Richard Isaac. 1840 — 29.4.1924. British (Irish) Colonial Officer in India. Son of Jonathan Br., a landowner, and Anne Maxwell. Helped by his elder brother, Rev. Robert Br., a missionary in North-West India, came to Dera Ismail Khan (1862?). Served in the Second Afghan War (1878-79), then in various offices. In 1894-95 Commissioner in Waziristan. C.I.E. In 1915 still living in Quetta. Married 1871 Lilla Webb, six sons (several served then in India) and one daughter. In frontier service the relations with the Baluchis were his responsibility and he developed a noted specialist of Baluchi language and customs.
Publications: Gazetter of Dera Ghazi Khan. 1883-84.
– Manual and Vocabulary of the Biluchi Dialect. 6+154 p. Lahore 1874; History of the Marri-Beluch Tribe. Lahore 1884.
– The Forward Policy and its Results, or Thirty-Five Years’ Work Amongst the Tribes on Our North- Western Frontier of India. 28+382 p. L. 1900 (on British policy, partly autobiographical).
Sources: Buckland, Dictionary; H. Rao, Indian Biogr. Dict. 1915; Wikipedia with photo; not in D.I.B.
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