Stanley Melbourne Bruce was born on 15 April 1883 in St Kilda Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, and was the youngest of five children. His father, John Munro Bruce, was of Ulster Scottish descent and had emigrated from Ireland to Australia in 1858 at the age of 18. His mother, Mary Ann Henderson, was Irish and had married her cousin John after emigrating to Australia in 1872 at the age of 24 John Bruce was a talented businessman with "a flair for buying and selling",which would secure him a partnership in an established Melbourne importing firm that became known as Paterson, Laing and Bruce in 1868
Early Career.
He came to Melbourne when he was 18 and became a partner in a mercantile business.His father…show more content… With the new Country Party unwilling to serve under WM Hughes, Bruce established a coalition with Country Party leader Earle Page as the deputy Prime Minister. While generous in the allocation of portfolios to coalition ministers, Bruce was a firm and focused leader. He saw his role as head of government as requiring strong leadership, firm planning, and sound and efficient economic management.
The Nationalists lost eleven seats and their majority in The House of Representatives in the election of 1922 Only three of these seats were picked up by the Labour party though, and Labor still lacked the numbers to form government in their own right. Rather, a breakaway anti-Hughes Liberal party took five government seats, while the Country Party increased their number to 14 and now held the balance of power. The only politically realistic option for the Nationalists to stay in office was to come to an agreement with the Country Party. However, Country Party leader Earle Page refused to support a Nationalist government with Hughes as prime minister, and negotiations throughout January and February failed to break the impasse. Rather than risk being defeated in the legislature, which might have resulted in the Governor General asking Labor to form government, Hughes surprised his colleagues by announcing his intention to resign on 2 February. With deputy leader Walter Massy Greene having lost his seat at the 1922 election, Hughes now sent for Bruce to take over as leader of the party. After some reluctance, Bruce finally agreed, although Hughes later regretted the decision and became one of the new prime minister's most outspoken
