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Geoffrey BruceBritish mountaineer and soldier
Date of Birth: 04.12.1896
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
Biography of Jeffrey Bruce
Early LifeJeffrey Bruce was born on December 4, 1896, in the United Kingdom. He attended the prestigious private Rugby School. In 1932, he married Marjorie Isabella Kramp, and they had two daughters together.
Military Career
During World War I, Jeffrey served as a Second Lieutenant in the Glamorgan Yeomanry division, stationed in Egypt and Palestine. As an officer of the British Indian Army, he participated in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 and was awarded the Military Cross in 1921. He served in the Northwest Frontier Province operations from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1937 to 1938. In 1937, Jeffrey was appointed as the commander of the 2nd Battalion 6th Gurkha Rifles. He had a distinguished military career during World War II, serving in Norway and France in 1940. He later commanded the 17th Infantry Brigade during its formation. From 1944 to 1946, Jeffrey served as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff in the British Indian Army. He retired from military service in 1948 after holding the position of commander in the Lahore region.
Mountaineering Achievement
At the age of 25, in 1922, Jeffrey, with no prior mountaineering experience except for hill climbing in the Northwest Frontier Province, received an invitation from his cousin, General Charles Bruce, to join the expedition to Mount Everest. Jeffrey accepted the offer to become the third officer of the transport department and a translator for the expedition. This was the first expedition with the specific goal of reaching the summit of the world's highest mountain.
During the ascent, many climbers and porters suffered from dysentery and altitude sickness near the East Rongbuk Glacier at an altitude of around 6400 meters. Despite the challenges, Jeffrey persevered. The original plan was for chemist and mountaineer George Finch to lead at one of the passes. Jeffrey was willing to collaborate with Finch, even though the idea of using oxygen was initially met with hesitation by many expedition members. However, Finch fell ill before the start, and the leading climbers were already high in the mountains when he recovered, requiring him to recruit a team of untrained climbers. On May 24, 1922, Finch and Jeffrey reached the North Col pass. Accompanied by filmmaker John Noel, who documented the entire ascent, they continued to ascend the North Face of Everest and set up camp in the midst of a storm. Delayed due to the storm, they finally resumed their climb. They began traversing the north side without using ropes to save time. Suddenly, Jeffrey's oxygen equipment suffered a malfunction, but Finch managed to repair it while they shared one oxygen cylinder between them. After this incident, Jeffrey was unable to continue the ascent, and the pair made the decision to turn back, only 0.8 km from the summit of Everest.
On May 27, 1922, Jeffrey and Finch set a new world record for altitude by reaching 8300 meters. It is noteworthy that this was Jeffrey's first mountain climb.
Jeffrey participated in another Everest expedition in 1924, once again under the leadership of General Charles Bruce, this time as Captain Jeffrey Bruce, becoming one of the main climbers. However, the general fell ill with malaria during the journey, and he had to be evacuated to India. Teddy Norton took over as the expedition leader. It was decided to pair Jeffrey with Noel Odell, and their goal was to attempt to reach the summit with the use of oxygen equipment.
Near the East Rongbuk Glacier, after bad weather forced everyone back to base camp, Jeffrey and now Mallory were tasked with establishing Camp V at an altitude of about 7800 meters and then making an attempt to reach the summit of Everest.
Camp V was supposed to be ready by June 1, but the porters involved in the climb refused to go any higher and retreated to the North Col pass. Norton and Somervell made an attempt to reach the summit of Everest on June 4, which failed, but they managed to climb higher than Jeffrey and Finch did in 1922. Four days later, on June 8, Mallory chose Sandy Irvine as his partner in his quest to conquer Everest. After Mallory and Irvine went missing, it was decided to end the expedition. Mallory's body was found in 1999, but Irvine's remains were never discovered.
Jeffrey received offers to lead Everest expeditions in 1933 and 1935 but was unable to participate due to his military commitments.
