John Brudenell-Bruce

rdf:langString John Brudenell-Bruce

rdf:langString John Charles Brudenell-Bruce, MBE, OStJ (6 March 1885 – 13 February 1960), was a diplomat in the British service and a politician who served during the years immediately after the reintroduction of democracy in the British Virgin Islands in 1950. Between 1916 and 1918, during the First World War, he was a Second Secretary in the British Diplomatic Service. He later moved to the British Virgin Islands in the 1930s on the advice of his doctors to seek a warmer climate. He purchased an estate of approximately 230 acres on Peter Island at Little Harbour and established a small tobacco plantation. Subsequently he was elected as a member of First Legislative Council following the reintroduction of democracy in 1950. Although many of Brudenell-Bruce's family had enjoyed long and successful political careers in the United Kingdom, he did not stand in the subsequent general election. However he was appointed to complete the term of Edwin H. Leonard in the 3rd District when Leonard was unable to continue in 1955, and he served the remainder of the term. He was the first, and to date the only, white person to be elected to the British Virgin Islands legislature since the restoration of democracy in 1950.