Moshiurrahmanatik at 11:36, 1 May 2026

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{{Short description|British Indian Army officer, mountaineer}}
{{About||the alpine ski racer|Geoff Bruce}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Geoffrey Bruce
| image = File:Geoffrey Bruce & George Finch, 1922.jpg
| alt = Monochrome photo of two men looking like hikers on a cold day
| caption = Bruce (left) and Finch in 1922.
| birth_name = John Geoffrey Bruce
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|12|04|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|01|31|1896|12|04|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| spouse = Marjorie Isabel Crump
| parents = Colonel Sir Gerald Bruce
| other_names =
| occupation = Military officer
| known_for = Mount Everest expeditions
| module = {{Infobox military person
| embed = yes
| service_years = 1914–1948
| service_number = 106232
| branch = {{army|British India}}
| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| rank = [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]]
| commands = [[17th Indian Infantry Brigade]]<br/>2nd Battalion [[6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles|6th Gurkha Rifles]]
| battles = {{plainlist|
*[[World War I]]
*[[Third Anglo-Afghan War]]
*[[World War II]]}}
| awards = [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Distinguished Service Order]]<br/>[[Military Cross]]<br/>[[Order of the Star of Nepal]]
| memorials =
| relations =
| other_work =
| signature =
| signature_size =
| signature_alt =
| website = 
| module =
}}
}}
[[Major general (United Kingdom)|Major General]] '''John Geoffrey Bruce''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|DSO|MC}} (4 December 1896 – 31 January 1972) was an officer in the [[British Indian Army]], eventually becoming Deputy Chief of General Staff, who participated in the [[1922 British Mount Everest expedition]]. Bruce, who had never before climbed a mountain, had been appointed as a transport officer, but chance led to him accompanying [[George Finch (chemist)|George Finch]] on the only summit attempt that used supplemental oxygen. Together they set a new [[World altitude record (mountaineering)|mountaineering world record height]] of {{convert|8321|m|abbr=on|sigfig=5|order=flip}}, only {{convert|527.82|m|abbr=on|sigfig=5|order=flip}} below the summit of [[Mount Everest]]. He also took part in the [[1924 British Mount Everest expedition]], and for a time was slated to make the first summit attempt with [[George Mallory]], before the party was forced to retreat and Mallory subsequently went for the top with [[Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)|Sandy Irvine]].

==Background and personal life==
Geoffrey Bruce, born on 4 December 1896, was a son of Colonel Sir Gerald Bruce. He attended [[Rugby School]]. Bruce married Marjorie Isabel Crump in 1932 and they had two daughters.<ref name=www>{{cite web|title=Bruce, Major-General (retired) John Geoffrey|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U152742|website=Who Was Who|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=16 December 2014|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref group=note>Marjorie also had two older daughters by a previous marriage.</ref> In 1922 he was described by his mountaineering colleague [[George Finch (chemist)|George Finch]] as "tall, of athletic build, strong, endowed with a great fund of mental energy – an invaluable asset on ventures of this kind – and cheerful in any situation".<ref name=enews>{{cite web|title=Mallory and Irvine The Final Chapter: Capt. C. Geoffrey Bruce|url=http://www.everestnews2004.com/malloryandirvine2004/stories2004/bruce.htm|website=EverestNews.com|access-date=16 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170942/http://www.everestnews2004.com/malloryandirvine2004/stories2004/bruce.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Wade Davis (anthropologist)|Wade Davis]] said Bruce was, in 1922, "one of the finest athletes in the Indian Army".{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=377–378}}

==Military career==
During the First World War, Bruce was [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Glamorgan Yeomanry]] serving in [[Egypt]] and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].<ref name=www />

As an officer of the British Indian Army, Bruce took part in the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] of 1919, and in 1921 he was awarded the [[Military Cross]].<ref name=blakeney />{{sfnp|Davis|2012|p=378}} He participated in the [[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North-West Frontier Province operations]] between 1920 and 1923, and again between 1937 and 1938.<ref name=blakeney>{{cite journal|last1=Blakeney|first1=T. S.|title=In Memoriam: John Geoffrey Bruce 1896–1972|journal=Alpine Journal|date=1973|pages=280–295|url=http://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1973_files/AJ%201973%20280-295%20In%20Memoriam.pdf|access-date=16 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605052453/http://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1973_files/AJ%201973%20280-295%20In%20Memoriam.pdf|archive-date=5 June 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> He attended the [[Staff College, Quetta]] from 1927 to 1928, and his fellow students included [[Frederick E. Morgan|Frederick Morgan]], [[Harold Rawdon Briggs|Harold Briggs]], [[George Alan Vasey|George Vasey]], [[E. L. M. Burns]], [[David Tennant Cowan|David Cowan]] and [[Horace Birks]].{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=48}} He then attended the [[RAF Staff College, Andover]] in 1932, before returning to the Staff College, Quetta, this time as an instructor, from 1933 to 1936. Bruce was promoted to [[Commanding officer|Commanding Officer]] (CO) of the 2nd Battalion [[6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles|6th Gurkha Rifles]] in 1937.<ref name=blakeney />{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=48}}

He had a distinguished career during the [[World War II|Second World War]], at the beginning of which he was attending the [[Royal College of Defence Studies|Imperial Defence College]] in [[London]],{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=48}} serving in Norway and France in 1940, before returning to India to command the [[17th Indian Infantry Brigade]] at the time of its formation. From 1944 to 1946 he was Deputy [[Chief of the General Staff (India)|Chief of the General Staff, India]] of the British Indian Army, and was then [[General officer commanding|General Officer Commanding]] (GOC) of the [[Lahore]] District until his retirement in 1948.<ref name=www /><ref name=blakeney /><ref name=rgs /> He was Commandant of the [[Civil Defence Staff College]] from 1952 to 1956.<ref name=www />

==1922 Mount Everest expedition==
[[File:Oxygen equipment on 1922 Everest expedition.jpg|thumb|upright|Oxygen equipment used on the expedition|alt=Photo of four gas cylinders strapped on someone's back]]
{{main|1922 British Mount Everest expedition}}
In 1922, at the age of 25, Bruce had no mountaineering experience except for hill scrambling in the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–55)|North-West Frontier]], but he was invited by his cousin General [[Charles Granville Bruce|Charles Bruce]], the leader of that year's Everest expedition, to take part as third transport officer and interpreter.<ref name=blakeney /><ref name=rgs>{{cite web |title=Major-General John Geoffrey Bruce |url=http://imagingeverest.rgs.org/Units/25.html |website=Imaging Everest |publisher=[[Royal Geographical Society]] |access-date=16 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124022935/http://imagingeverest.rgs.org/Units/25.html |archive-date=24 November 2015 |df=dmy }}</ref> This was the first expedition with the specific aim of reaching the summit of the world's highest mountain.

While the expedition was ascending the [[East Rongbuk Glacier]] at an elevation of about {{convert|6401|m|abbr=on|sigfig=4|order=flip}}, many of the climbers and porters were suffering from dysentery and the effects of altitude, but Bruce maintained his full fitness. It had been intended that one of the assaults on the summit would be led by George Finch, using oxygen equipment. Bruce was willing to cooperate, although this sort of artificial aid was regarded with scepticism or even disdain by many members of the party. Finch was taken ill and, by the time he recovered, all the other lead climbers had set off higher up the mountain, so Finch had to assemble a team of untrained climbers.{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=413–414, 418–419}}

[[File:John Noel with filming equipment, 1922.jpg|thumb|left|Noel filming from the North Col]]
On 24 May Finch and Bruce, accompanied by [[Tejbir Bura]], an [[Non-commissioned officer|NCO]] [[Gurkha Army]] colleague of Bruce's, set off with a group of porters to reach the [[North Col]].{{refn|group=note|Finch gives a highly-readable account of the summit attempt ([//archive.org/stream/assaultonmountev00bruc#page/234/mode/2up available online]) in ''The Assault on Mount Everest, 1922''.{{sfnp|Bruce|1923|pp=234–250}}}} [[John Baptist Lucius Noel|John Noel]] accompanied them as far as the Col to photograph and film progress. The next day, Finch, Bruce, and Tejbir climbed higher up towards the North Shoulder and camped the following night in hurricane conditions. After being forced to stay in camp the next day, they at last set off again, but Tejbir, at the point of collapse, had to return to the tent. To keep slightly sheltered from the strengthening wind, they started to traverse the North Face, without using ropes so as to save time. Suddenly the glass T-piece of Bruce's oxygen set broke, but Finch was able to replace it while they shared Finch's oxygen. After that, Bruce was unable to go higher and so, within a half-mile ({{convert|0.5|mi|disp=out|sigfig=1}}) of the summit, they turned back.{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=428–430}}

Three days earlier, the team of [[George Mallory]], [[Edward Felix Norton|Teddy Norton]], and [[Howard Somervell]], not using supplemental oxygen, had turned back at {{convert|8225|m|abbr=on|sigfig=5|order=flip}} and now, on 27 May 1922, Finch and Bruce had set another world record height of {{convert|8321|m|abbr=on|sigfig=5|order=flip}}, only {{convert|527.82|m|abbr=on|sigfig=5|order=flip}} below the summit; it was Bruce's first mountain climb.{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=433–434}}{{refn|group=note|Davis (2012) wrote, "Their elevation was 27,300 feet – the highest that man had ever climbed", and, "Geoffrey Bruce ... had set a world height record on his very first mountain climb".{{sfnp|Davis|2012|p=434}}

Charles Bruce (1923) wrote, "First, although Geoffrey Bruce is thoroughly accustomed
to work on the hillside, he had never before this big attempt, and before the few practice walks that he had with Finch, attempted a snow mountain in his life; the nearest thing he had been to it was following game in Kashmir".{{sfnp|Bruce|1923|p=61}}}}

[[File:1922 Mount Everest expedition, second climbing party descending.jpg|thumb|upright|Finch and Bruce descending from their record climb|alt=Photo of two men trudging out of a snowy, mountainous background]]
In violent wind, they eventually got back to the North Col where Noel, fearing that no one could survive for so long in such conditions, had been burning unexposed film to act as flares to guide them. Bruce's feet were completely numb and Finch feared they might be lost to frostbite, although Bruce staged a full recovery and was able to return to his regiment later in the year.{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=434–437, 457–458}} [[Douglas Freshfield]] later described the climb as "one of the bravest mountaineering feats on record".{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=434–437}} Bruce wrote to Finch, "I can never thank you enough for electing to take me with you on that climb, or for the perfectly astonishing way you pulled me through it all. It was wonderful".{{sfnp|Davis|2012|p=463}} At the [[1924 Winter Olympics]], Bruce was one of the thirteen members of the expedition awarded an [[Olympic medal|Olympic gold medal]].<ref group=note>Medals were awarded to a further eight members of the team at the [[1924 Summer Olympics]]</ref><ref name=www /><ref name=bbc1924>{{cite news|last1=Georgiou|first1=George|title=Everest Olympic medal pledge set to be honoured|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17493939|access-date=16 December 2014|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|date=26 March 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922145422/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17493939|archive-date=22 September 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==1924 and later Everest expeditions==
{{main|1924 British Mount Everest expedition}}

The next Everest expedition, which took place in 1924, was also led by General Charles Bruce, and this time Captain Geoffrey Bruce was one of the main climbers as well as being transport officer. General Bruce was taken ill with malaria on the march in and had to be evacuated to India, with Teddy Norton taking over as leader.{{sfnp|Unsworth|1981|p=108}} During the march in, it had been decided to pair Bruce with [[Noel Odell]] to make the expedition's desired third attempt on the summit (with oxygen).{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=495–496}} Later, on the East Rongbuk glacier, after bad weather had driven everyone back to base camp and a second approach was being made, the plan was for Mallory and Bruce to establish Camp V at about {{convert|25500|ft|order=flip}} and then make the first summit bid.{{sfnp|Unsworth|1981|pp=117–118}}

Camp V went according to plan on 1 June, but the porters could not be persuaded to climb farther and everyone retreated back to the North Col.{{sfnp|Davis|2012|p=529}} Norton and Somervell made a summit attempt on 4 June and managed to climb higher than Bruce and Finch had done in 1922.<ref group=note>Norton and Somervell reached {{convert|28126|ft|order=flip}}, setting a record that was to last until the [[1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition|Swiss expedition of 1952]].</ref>{{sfnp|Unsworth|1981|p=122}} Mallory launched a third attempt on 8 June but this time he chose [[Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)|Sandy Irvine]] as climbing partner. When Mallory and Irvine failed to return, the expedition was called off.{{sfnp|Davis|2012|pp=538, 549–550}}

Bruce was later invited to be the leader of the [[1933 British Mount Everest expedition|Everest expedition of 1933]] and [[1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition|of 1935]], but was unable to accept due to his army commitments.{{sfnp|Unsworth|1981|pp=160, 188}}

==References==
{{reflist|group=note}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
*{{cite book|last1=Bruce|first1=Charles Granville|title=The Assault on Mount Everest, 1922|date=1923|url=https://archive.org/stream/assaultonmountev00bruc#page/n7/mode/2up|access-date=18 December 2014|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co.|location=New York}}
*{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Wade|authorlink=Wade Davis (anthropologist)|title=Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest|date=2012|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0099563839}}
*{{cite book|last=Unsworth|first=Walt|title=Everest|location=London|publisher=Allen Lane|date=1981|isbn=0713911085}}
*{{cite book| first=Nick| last=Smart| title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| isbn=1844150496| year=2005| location=Barnesley| publisher=Pen & Sword}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite web|last1=Ammentorp|first1=Steen|title=Biography of Major-General John Geoffrey Bruce (1896–1972), Great Britain|url=http://www.generals.dk/general/Bruce/John_Geoffrey/Great_Britain.html|website=The Generals of WWII: Generals from Great Britain|access-date=16 December 2014|ref=none}}
*{{cite web|last1=Bruce|first1=Sally|title=Memories of a Wartime Childhood|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/07/a6084407.shtml|date=10 October 2005|website=WW2 People's War: Child in Wartime|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 December 2014|ref=none}} – memoir by one of Bruce's daughters

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Geoffrey}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of the Staff College, Quetta]]
[[Category:English mountain climbers]]
[[Category:People educated at Rugby School]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Star of Nepal]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Indian Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Glamorgan Yeomanry officers]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Command and Staff College Quetta]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies]]
[[Category:Recipients of the MacGregor Medal]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in alpinism]]

Geoffrey Bruce - Revision history

Moshiurrahmanatik at 11:36, 1 May 2026