Born in Braidwood, New South Wales to parents Robert and Margaret Bruce, the family relocated to Sydney.

A halfback, Bruce played in nineteen matches for the Eastern Suburbs club in the years 1909-1912 alongside Dally Messenger.

Bruce was a thirty-two-year-old married tram conductor with two adopted children living in Yurong St, near Hyde Park, Sydney when he enlisted in the AIF in March 1916.

He was wounded in action in Belgium at the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and rejoined his unit in August 1917 at which point he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant, less than eighteen months after enlistment .

[3] He was killed early in the first day of the First Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on 12 October 1917 after establishing a forward command post.