Herbert Bruce was born in 1868 near Port Perry, Ontario, and was educated at the University of Toronto and in Paris, Berlin and Vienna. A doctor by profession, he practised in Toronto. When World War I broke out, he served in the medical corps and rose to the rank of Inspector General, but was relieved of his post in 1916 after submitting a controversial report. Colonel Bruce was a founder of Wellesley Hospital and a professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor in 1932 and served until 1937. Government House was closed at the end of his term by then Premier Mitchell Hepburn, and henceforth the Lieutenant Governor and staff have been based at a Suite at Queen's Park. Colonel Bruce served as a Member of Parliament from 1940 to 1946. He authored several medical books, and died in Toronto in 1963.