James Bruce (1808–1861), journalist and author, was born at Aberdeen in 1808. He began his journalistic career in his native town, and there he published, in 1840, The Black Kalendar of Aberdeen, an account of the most remarkable trials before the criminal courts of that city, and of the cases sent up from that district to the High Court of Justiciary, from 1745 to 1830, with personal details concerning the prisoners. In the following year appeared his Lives of Eminent Men of Aberdeen, which contains, among other biographies, those of John Barbour, Bishop Elphinstone, chancellor of Scotland under James III, Jamieson the painter, and the poet Beattie.

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James Bruce (1808–1861), journalist and author, was born at Aberdeen in 1808. He began his journalistic career in his native town, and there he published, in 1840, The Black Kalendar of Aberdeen, an account of the most remarkable trials before the criminal courts of that city, and of the cases sent up from that district to the High Court of Justiciary, from 1745 to 1830, with personal details concerning the prisoners. In the following year appeared his Lives of Eminent Men of Aberdeen, which contains, among other biographies, those of John Barbour, Bishop Elphinstone, chancellor of Scotland under James III, Jamieson the painter, and the poet Beattie.

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