Voyage of the Scotia 1902-04

William Speirs Bruce, 1867-1921

Family photograph of Mrs Jessie Bruce and Eillium Bruce

The Scottish scientist and explorer William S Bruce married Miss Jessie Mackenzie from the village of Nigg (four miles north-east of Cromarty), Ross and Cromarty, in 1901. She had been a nurse in his father Samuel's medical practice in London.

They set up home in Joppa, Midlothian, where their son Eillium (Gaelic for William) was born in 1902. This was just prior to Bruce's departure on the Scotia as organiser and leader of the 1902-1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Their daughter, Sheila, was born in 1909.

Bruce carried this leather-encased portrait of his wife and son with him on his travels, although presumably not actually on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, judging by Eillium's age in the photograph.