Was Bruce the black sheep?

Bruce Ward, right, with Manasseh
centre and Roy left. Mid 1920s?

I was brought up under the impression that Manasseh and Madeline's Ward's youngest son, Bruce, was the black sheep of the family. The story was that he had forged a cheque on his mother's account, then vanished, leaving his young children at his mother's home. 

The black sheep idea was a bit of a puzzle to me, because I was also named Bruce. Why would I have been named after the black sheep of the family? I think that bit of the puzzle was not hard to solve, because my Dad had very fond memories of Bruce's son Bruce Jr from the time in the early 1930s when the two children were living at Myee with Madeline and Amy. Dad's family lived just over the road from Myee, and Bruce Jr was Dad's favourite playmate. But they lost contact when the children went to live with their mother's family and Dad always wondered what became of his mate (more on that at the end of this post).

Bruce Leon Clive Ward was the youngest son of Manasseh and Madeline Ward. He was born at ‘Myee’, Gertrude Street Gosford Gosford in July 1896.  

We don’t know a lot about Bruce’s life growing up, but he was the youngest in a large family. He had four older sisters, Josephine 20, Madeline 18, Amy six and Doris (Dolly) two. He had six older brothers, William 16, Robert 14, Roy nine, Ephraim eight, Eric five and Pat four. His mother had a generous and regular income from a trust set up by her grandfather, and Bruce, like all the children, would have had a good education.

Bruce’s father was a superb bushman but devoted a lot of his time to civic duty, serving on the local Council and participating in almost every community organisation in town. The Gosford of Bruce’s youth was still a country town and all Bruce’s brothers were good bushmen. Bruce had a natural skill with horses, and in a family of bushman, may have been the best horseman of the lot!

When he left school, Bruce took up an apprenticeship with the Government Railways to train as an engineer (fitter and turner).  As soon as the Great War started in 1914, Bruce joined up. He was only 17, and was not eligible for active service, so he was put into an infantry unit until he was 18. At 18 he was enlisted into the Light Horse and was soon on his way to the front line in the middle east, were he served as a machine gunner in the 2nd Light Horse. 

Bruce was part of the allied advance across the Sanai and the subsequent fighting to secure outposts on the border of Palestine. His battalion was involved in the abortive second battle of Gaza in April 1917. This may have been where he was injured, because within two weeks he was in a field hospital. The military records give scant details, but piecing together the records with later evidence, it seems that Bruce may have been injured in an explosion and suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and leg. He also suffered permanent hearing loss on one side. He was repatriated to Australia and discharged as medically unfit.

In 1924 he married Esther Rich. Bruce was 28 and Esther 18. They lived in Sydney and Goulburn and Bruce worked on the railways as a fitter. They had two children, Joyce in 1824 and Bruce Jr in 1925. Esther died in June 1929, following a self-induced abortion. 

We will never know exactly what happened next, but Bruce left the children with his mother in Gosford and as far as the family were concerned, he vanished. There are a lot of stories around the family and some of them were possibly theories made up in the absence of any information. 

We now know that Bruce went to live in the Wellington area of New Zealand where he worked with New Zealand railways. He lived out his later life in a War Veteran's home and he died there in 1976, aged 80 (although it says 83 on his grave).

Bruce Ward's grave in New Zealand. There is no doubt that
this is Manasseh and Madeline's son. The 'Trooper Number'
706 is also written on his army enlistment form, on the same
page as his next-of-kin, Manasseh Ward.

The children lived with Madeline in Gosford for several years, but Madeline's health was failing and they eventually went to live with Esther's family. Bruce must have remained in touch with his children, because his son Bruce Jr listed him as his next of kin when he enlisted in the air force in WWII. He had the correct address in Petone, near Wellington, where Bruce is listed in the New Zealand Electoral Rolls.

My Dad never reconnected with his cousin Bruce Jr. They came close to each other during WWII when they were both on the island of Moratai before the Borneo landings, but neither would have known the other was there - one was in the army, the other the air force. One of my cousins finally tracked Bruce Jr down shortly before he (Bruce) died. History had repeated itself, and Bruce Jr was also estranged from his family.

My own theory is that Bruce Sr was unable to cope when his wife died. He was likely also suffering PTSD from his wartime experience - so he ran away! I have heard that he remained in contact with his brother Roy, who passed on news to some in the family, but not all. There was also a story that Bruce had gone to live in Christchurch and had been killed there in an earthquake. The grave photo above proves this story untrue.