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The Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce (10th
of November 1895 – 21st of May 1990) was a British record-breaking
racing motorist, speedboat racer, aviator in the 1920s and 1930s,
and later, successful businesswoman. She is less-commonly referred
to as Mary Petre Bruce, Mildred Bruce, Mildred Mary Bruce, or
Mary Victor Bruce, in contemporary references. Mildred Mary
Petre was born at Coptfold Hall, Chelmsford, Essex, England,
the daughter of Jennie Williams, an American actress, and Lawrence
Petre, a descendant of Sir William Petre. She was educated at
the Convent of Notre Dame de Sion, in Bayswater, London. In 1911,
aged 15, she began her passion for motor vehicles by riding her
brother's Matchless motorcycle, travelling around Osterley, west
London, with her collie dog in the sidecar. She was cited for
a motoring offence and appeared in Hounslow police court, where
the magistrate dismissed the charges, fined her court costs of
6 shillings, and banned her from riding the motorcycle until
she was 16. In 1920, she purchased her first car, an Enfield-Allday,
and was prosecuted many times for speeding, including three days
running at Bow Street Magistrates' Court. In 1920 her affair
with wealthy landowner Stephen Easter (1874–1952) resulted
in the birth of a son, originally named Anthony Billy Stephen
Petre Easter, but she changed his name to Anthony Petre Easter-Bruce
in 1933. In 1926, she married the Honourable Victor Austin Bruce,
son of Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare. He was a works driver
for AC Cars Ltd., and won the 1926 Monte Carlo Rally in an AC
car. She and her husband divorced in 1941. They had no children.
Having set records on land and
water, Bruce looked to the skies. As early as 1928 she joined
the Mayfair Flying Club and by January 1930 was the owner of
a Gipsy Moth. She did not take her first flying lesson until
the 25th of May 1930 the day after Amy Johnson completed her
record-setting flight to Australia. Bruce learned to fly at the
Brooklands School of Flying; her instructors were G. E. Lowdell
and Capt. H. Duncan Davis. Bruce soloed on the 22nd of June 1930
and received her A license #2855 on the 26th of July. She purchased
a Blackburn Bluebird IV with a de Havilland Gipsy II engine from
Auto-Auctions Ltd. in Burlington Gardens, London. It was sent
to the Blackburn factory in Brough, East Yorkshire, for modifications
in preparation for her flight. It was designated G-ABDS. On the
25th of September 1930, she named the aircraft "Bluebird"
and took off on a round the world solo flight. She was the owner
and founder of several aircraft charter comany's at Croydon before
WW2. |
