[1] Educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Cumming-Bruce was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Seaforth Highlanders in 1930.
During the Second World War, Cumming-Bruce served in a number of capacities in Palestine, Eritrea, and Libya, and in 1944 as Lieutenant Colonel commanding 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders in North-West Europe and then Brigadier commanding 44 Lowland Brigade, during which he received the DSO.
In 1945, Cumming-Bruce was appointed a Bar to the DSO, and installed as Commandant of the British Army of the Rhine's Training Centre, from where he saw out the rest of the War.
He served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and Northumbrian Area from 1959 to 1962, and then GOC of British Forces in Malta and Libya, 1962–63, before retiring in 1964.
[2] Harry Thurlow died on his 61st birthday and was succeeded in his Barony by the elder of his two younger twin brothers, Francis, then serving as Governor of the Bahamas.