The son of Robert Bruce, at one time Tory Member of Parliament for Clackmannan, he was born in Kennet in that county and educated at Loretto, Eton and Oriel College, Oxford.
Other activities of the artist have included teaching at Clackmannan College of Further Education (now Forth Valley College) in Soctland, Monash University, Prato Centre in Italy and he is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in Fine Art at Monash University, Melbourne.
William Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto (1814–1891), British Whig politician, MP for Hythe, Greenock, and for Clackmannan and Kinross