WITH the wag of the tail and a timely bark whenever anyone dropped a coin into the wooden collection box strapped to his furry back as he traipsed the streets of Swindon, he was without question one of the town’s most memorable characters and winsome ambassadors.

It is recorded that Bruce travelled 12,000 miles up and down the country by train in his unfailing efforts on behalf of charity, raising the equivalent back then of well over £25,000.

And now – somewhat bizarrely and on the eve of the centenary of the much loved mongrel’s final bow (wow) – he has made it all the way to the United States.

There is an American-based website, you probably won’t be surprised to learn, entitled AntiquePooch.com which thrives on all manner of canine collectibles. Although rather fond of hounds myself, it is not a site I would normally frequent.

But by sheer fluke – you know how these things happen – there I was gazing at sepia photographs of HMS Indomitable’s dog mascot Buller, Peggy The Trickster Spaniel and other long-gone tykes when who should suddenly pop up but Bruce, Swindon’s Famous Collecting Dog.

Two postcards from the same photograph, taken over 100 years ago in all likelihood by Swindon’s prolific turn-of-the-century snapper Edward Hooper, had somehow found their way into the stock of AntiquePooch.com in New Salisbury, Indiana.

Both the “Bruce of Swindon” images – depicting our four-legged hero proudly displaying a fine horde of medals dangling from a solid silver collar around his fluffy neck – bear a 25 dollar (about £16) price tag.

Born in January 1878, in Read Street, Central Swindon, Bruce’s big-hearted owner was Thomas Arthur Beal. Like most Swindonians in those days he followed his father – also Thomas – straight into the Great Western Railway Works after leaving school at 14.

Following a spell in Portsmouth, Thomas – or Arthur (he was sometimes known by his second name) – returned to Swindon, got married and set up home in Nelson Street.

In the same year – 1905 – he acquired a comely pup of indeterminate lineage (though a spot of Collie has to be somewhere in the mix.) No record appears as to why he began doing it – perhaps a family member had received treatment there – but Thomas and Bruce became a team who tramped around Swindon raising money for the town’s Victoria Hospital in Bath Road.

They must have been quite a sight – Thomas having fitted Bruce with a collection box, complete with a lock that he had strapped to the pooch’s back.

As a party trick that never ceased to amuse and amaze his patrons – and must have been an absolute hoot for on-looking children – Bruce gave a little bark every time a coin was dropped into the box.

They also journeyed further afield by train – all over the country, it seems – collecting, collecting, collecting...

Over the years Bruce must have humped many tons worth of change on his sturdy back. In 1911, the odd couple were presented with a certificate from the hospital that marked £140 raised over the previous three years.

Other needy causes also benefited from the pair’s unstinting efforts including families of Titanic victims in 1912... perhaps in concert with a fund-raising show staged in the wake of the tragedy at the Town Gardens Bandstand.

Bruce became something of a celebrity as the generously hirsute hound amassed an impressive array of gleaming medals which he proudly displayed while “at work.”

By 1913, when Bruce was eight, a postcard – now well known in Swindon local history circles, and indeed one of the items currently being offered by AntiquePooch.com – was produced.

Next to Bruce’s photo a caption read: “I am Bruce of Swindon, the famous Collecting Dog of nearly £500 for Charity. I have travelled over 10,000 miles by Rail. A solid Silver Collar, 16 Gold and Silver Medals have been Presented to me for my noble work. I am also member of the Brotherhood of Hero Dogs, London.”

Various other postcards of the canine cash collector were produced – picture postcards being all the rage in Edwardian England. Only one of them, though, depicted him with his owner.

According to the local history website Swindon In The Past Lane, Bruce’s 10-year career saw him travel more than 12,000 miles and raise £890 – well in excess of 25 grand by current standards.

Sadly, the last coin dropped into Bruce’s box during the early months of 1915 before this singular hound succumbed to illness and padded into history.

Such was the esteem in which he was held, Bruce’s box found its way into the town’s museum collection. The presumably dog-eared artefact has not been displayed for some time but hopefully continues to reside in the bowels of the Bath Road establishment alongside countless other mothballed exhibits.

As the centenary of our furry friend’s passing approaches in July next year, perhaps the old collection box should be dug out, dusted down and given a well-earned place among more familiar display objects at the museum.

Many a visitor – especially children – would, I feel, be utterly captivated by Bruce’s extraordinary tale.

  • SIXTY four years after Bruce’s passing he was afforded the conspicuous honour of being included in the well-known, much-photographed Swindon Personalities public mural.

Encompassing the gable end of a house at the junction of Union Street and Prospect Street in Old Town, the mural featured some of Swindon’s best known individuals from Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Diana Dors and Gilbert O’Sullivan to Desmond Morris, Don Rogers and Adver founder William Morris.

  • Swindon artist Ken White, one of the country’s leading muralists, depicted Bruce sitting in a shop doorway surrounded by famous Swindonians.

    Like most of the town’s once ubiquitous murals, the colourful work of public art vanished sometime during the Nineties.

    Bruce’s memory, however, lives on. His photo – complete with sprightly “spitz” (up-curled) tail is the current profile picture on the Swindon Has Heritage Facebook site. And when the Adver began compiling its list of 160 Headline Makers in celebration of our founding by the aforementioned William Morris in 1854 Bruce’s name was among the first dozen or so pencilled in.

    You can’t keep a good dog down!

     

  • FOLLOWING Bruce’s demise in the summer of 1915 his desolate owner Thomas Arthur Beal – who died at Stratton Hospital in 1957 aged 79 – contacted the Adver with the unhappy news.

     

    This paper responded by taking the virtually unheard of step of publishing an obituary of a dog.

    Next to a story concerning Turkish troops during World War One, our headline on Monday, July 26, read: “Death of Bruce – Swindon’s Famous Collecting Dog.”

    The report went: “Mr T.A. Beal of 16 Nelson Street, Swindon, informs us his well-known collecting dog, Bruce died last Friday morning, after three months illness, suffering from an ulcerated stomach.

    “Two veterinary surgeons have attended the animal, and did all that was possible to save his life.

    “He will be greatly missed on Hospital Collection days and especially by the children, with whom he was a great favourite. By his death Mr Beal has lost a valuable pet.”