Louis Bruce

Louis Bruce was born as Louis Bruce McAvoy Mortimore Doney in Edinburgh, Scotland in December of 1875, the son of Jane Elizabeth Doney (née Mortimore), a widowed nurse. Her husband, Henry Doney, who was a cab proprietor, died in 1870; the couple had three daughters prior to Louis’ birth. The identity of Bruce’s father is unclear, though he is stated to have been William King Bruce, a medical practitioner. Further research into this has not yielded any results as of yet. Louis Bruce was raised for the first decade of his life in Plympton, Devon. There, he lived at Frogmore Cottage with his grandmother Elizabeth Mortimore and two aunts. His mother, who lived nearby, eventually remarried in 1879 to Richard Dingley Hobbs, a victualler. With him, she had another son, William Kendle Hobbs, in 1880.

Louis Bruce relocated to Hammersmith, London by the early 1900s where he took up work as a tram driver for London United Tramways (LUT), based at Fulwell Depot. Initially granted a tram license in 1900, he was later noted to have been one of the first, and perhaps only Black tram drivers in London at the time. Active in the social life of his profession, he frequently performed in entertainment acts as a dancer, ragtime singer and comedian in tramway social events and concerts. On 1 March 1906, as presumably one of the most trusted and senior motormen in London, Bruce was present at the side of Councilor Henry Charles Minnitt, mayor of Kingston-upon-Thames, as the mayor ceremonially took the controls of the first London United Tramways electric tram (car no. 320) to cross the Kingston Bridge over the River Thames as a part of a new route to Tolworth and Surbiton. A week prior, Bruce also was in charge of driving government officials and inspectors on a test run of the new route, held on 21 February. Photos from these events are the only known photos of Bruce that we have been able to discover thus far. Held in high regard within his profession, he was also the personal tram driver for Sir J. Clifton Robinson, the Managing Director of the Imperial Tramways Company.

As a member of the Hammersmith Amateur Wrestling Club and Grove House Athletic Club, Louis Bruce featured in heavyweight wrestling matches around the London area starting from at least 1905. During this time, his skin color predictably led him to be frequently referred to by various ethnic epithets by the press, such as “Darkey” or as “coloured”. One of the highlights of his athletic career would come in 1908, when he was one of 14 members of the Hammersmith AWC to feature at the Olympic Games in London; there, he defeated Alfred Banbrook of London Amateur Wrestling Society in the first round, but lost his next matchup to frequent opponent, fellow countryman and clubmate Ernest Nixson. At 32 years old, he was the oldest British competitor to participate in the wrestling events. He later joined a club based in Shepherd’s Bush by 1909. Bruce was also actively involved in sporting affairs of the London United Tramways Club and Institute throughout the 1900s and 1910s. There he participated in events such as race walking and heavyweight boxing, winning a championship title in the latter in January 1913. In 1914, at the age of 38, he also won the LUT one mile walking handicap at Griffin Park.

Bruce later rose through the ranks and was working as an inspector of trams by 1911. That same year, he married Ethel Elizabeth Dunn at St Peter & St Paul Church in Teddington with whom he had a son, Dennis, in September of 1917. He continued to work with LUT until at least 1921. By the late 1930s, Bruce, now in his mid-sixties, was working as a shopkeeper of a news and confectionery shop in Sutton, Surrey. He died there on 31 March 1958 at the age of 82. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife and left an estate valued at £5,897. Though his Olympic result might arguably have been insignificant, Louis Bruce holds the distinction of being the first, and earliest known Black person to have represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games. This was previously thought to have been sprinter Harry Edward (Antwerpen 1920), until research conducted by Olympic historians uncovered Bruce’s story. He had been previously listed in records under the inaccurate name of “Lawrence Bruce” for many years, until his entry form was rediscovered in December 2021.