Editing Nigel Bruce (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Bruce, William Nigel Ernle (1895-1953) - cricket first team 1912.jpg|thumb|Bruce pictured in the Abingdon School first XI cricket team in 1912]]
Bruce was the second son of Sir William Waller Bruce, [[Bruce baronets#Bruce baronets, of Stenhouse (1628)|10th Baronet]] and his wife Angelica, Lady Bruce, daughter of General George Selby, [[Royal Artillery]].{{Citation needed |date=April 2022}} He was born in [[Ensenada, Baja California|Ensenada]], [[Baja California]], Mexico, whilst his parents were touring the world.<ref name="js">{{cite news |title=Nigel Bruce-Dr. Watson To You, In 'Sherlock Holmes' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99856956/nigel-bruce/ |access-date=April 16, 2022 |work=The Jackson Sun |date=November 3, 1946 |page=12|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> His older brother was the author and adventurer [[Sir Michael Bruce, 11th Baronet|Sir Michael Bruce]].

He received his formal education at The Grange School in [[Stevenage]], and from 1908 to 1912 at [[Abingdon School]] in [[Abingdon-on-Thames]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/flipping/SchoolRegister/files/assets/basic-html/index.html#page259|title=Register|publisher=Abingdon School}}</ref> At Abingdon he was a keen sportsman, playing for the first XI cricket team (for which he received Colours), the athletics' first team and the school's football 2nd XI.

In 1912, Bruce left school at the age of 17, and took up a position as a stockbroker's clerk in the [[City of London]].<ref>Abingdon School register entry for Bruce.</ref> In early 1914, whilst working in the City he voluntarily enlisted in the [[British Army]]'s [[Territorial Force]] as an [[infantry]] soldier with the [[Honourable Artillery Company]] as its Private #852. On the outbreak of [[World War I]] in early August 1914, he was [[mobilized]] with the regiment, and went out to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] with its 1st Battalion on 18 September 1914 at the age of 19.<ref>Bruce's WW1 Medal Index Card, The National Archive, Kew, Surrey, England. Archive document code: WO 372/3/140620.</ref> On 5 January 1915, whilst in trenches at [[Kemmel]] in Belgium, he was machine-gunned in the legs, causing multiple wounds and a fractured right thigh, and was subsequently medically evacuated to the United Kingdom, where he spent the rest of 1915 recovering in hospital. He was discharged from the British Army as medically unfit for further military service due to permanent damage to his legs in December 1915. In October 1916, he re-enlisted with the British Army and received training with an Officer Cadet Battalion in [[Cambridge]], subsequently receiving a commission in January 1917, as a [[Subaltern (military)|subaltern]] with the 10th (Service) Battalion, of the [[Somerset Light Infantry]] Regiment, a home service battalion, with which he served as a training officer for the rest of 1917, the permanent infirmity of his 1915 wounds preventing further active service at the front.<ref>'Famous 1914–1918', by Richard Van Emden & Vic Piuk (Pub. Pen & Sword, 2009).</ref>