Editing Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare (section)

==Later political career==
[[File:HenryAustinBruce.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Statue overlooking the Main Building of Cardiff University]]
After losing his seat, Bruce was elected for [[Renfrewshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Renfrewshire]] on 25 January 1869, and was made [[Home Secretary]] by [[William Ewart Gladstone]].  His tenure of this office was conspicuous for a reform of the [[licensing laws]], and he was responsible for the [[Licensing Act 1872]], which made the [[magistrate]]s the licensing authority, increased the penalties for misconduct in public-houses and shortened the number of hours for the sale of drink. In 1873 Bruce relinquished the home secretaryship, at Gladstone's request, to become [[Lord President of the Council]], and was elevated to the peerage as [[Baron Aberdare]],<ref name=WBO/> of Duffryn in the County of Glamorgan, on 23 August that year.<ref name=bp2003/> Being a Gladstonian Liberal, Aberdare had hoped for a much more radical proposal to keep existing licensee holders for a further ten years, and to prevent any new applicants. Its unpopularity pricked his nonconformist's conscience, when like Gladstone himself he had a strong leaning towards Temperance. He had already pursued 'moral improvement' on miners in the regulations attempting to further ban boys from the pits. The Trades Union Act 1871 was another more liberal regime giving further rights to unions, and protection from malicious prosecutions.<ref>{{cite ODNB |url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3732?docPos=2 |title= Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare |year= 2004 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/3732 |access-date= 22 December 2016 }}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of Henry Austin Bruce (4671282).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Caricature of Bruce by [[Carlo Pellegrini (caricaturist)|Carlo Pellegrini]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1869 with the caption ''"He has gained credit by converting himself to the Ballot; he would gain greater credit by converting himself into an ex-secretary of State for the Home Department"'']]

{{anchor|Aberdare Report}}
The defeat of the Liberal government in the following year terminated Lord Aberdare's official political life, and he subsequently devoted himself to social, educational and economic questions. Education became one of Lord Aberdare's main interests in later life. His interest had been shown by the speech on Welsh education which he had made on 5 May 1862. In 1880, he was appointed to chair the Departmental Committee on Intermediate and Higher Education in Wales and Monmouthshire, whose report ultimately led to the [[Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889|Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889]].<ref name="WBO" /> The report also stimulated the campaign for the provision of university education in Wales. In 1883, Lord Aberdare was elected the first president of the [[Cardiff University|University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire]]. In his inaugural address he declared that the framework of Welsh education would not be complete until there was a [[University of Wales]]. The university was eventually founded in 1893 and Aberdare became its first chancellor.<ref name="WBO" />

In 1876 he was elected a [[Royal Society|Fellow of the Royal Society]]; from 1878 to 1891 he was president of the [[Royal Historical Society]]. and in 1881 he became president of both the [[Royal Geographical Society]] and the [[Girls' Public Day School Company|Girls' Day School Trust]].<ref name=EB1911 /> In 1888 he headed the commission that established the [[Official Table of Drops]], listing how far a person of a particular weight should be dropped when hanged for a [[capital offence]] (the only method of '[[judicial execution]]' in the United Kingdom at that time), to ensure an instant and painless death, by cleanly breaking the neck between the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae, an 'exacting science', eventually brought to perfection by Chief Executioner [[Albert Pierrepoint]]. Prisoners health, clothing and discipline was a particular concern even at the end of his career. In the Lords he spoke at some length to the Home Affairs Committee chaired by Arthur Balfour about the prison rules system.<ref>{{citation |url= http://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/result/pqpdocumentview?&pgId=3b9ca55d-4995-45b4-bf64-7d64518a9344|title= Prison Rules Inquiry |date= 16 April 1889 |access-date= 22 December 2016 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Aberdare had always expressed concern about intemperate working-classes; in 1878 urging greater vigilance against the vice of excessive drinking, he took evidence on miners and railway colliers drinking habits. The committee tried to establish special legislation based on a link between Sunday Opening and absenteeism established in 1868.<ref>{{ cite web |title=Select Committee of House of Lords for inquiring into Prevalence of Habits of Intemperance, and Effects of Recent Legislation, Fourth Report, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, Index |url= http://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/result/pqpdocumentview?pgId=de08e832-4e72-410e-8e6a-75baae953db1 |date= 22 February 1878 |access-date= 22 December 2016 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Aberdare had been interested in the plight of working class drinkers since Gladstone had appointed him Home Secretary. The defeat of the Licensing Bill by the Tory 'beerage' and publicans was drafted to limit hours and protect the public, but it persuaded a convinced Anglican forever more of the iniquities.

In 1882 he began a connection with West Africa which lasted the rest of his life, by accepting the chairmanship of the [[National African Company]], formed by [[George Taubman Goldie|Sir George Goldie]], which in 1886 received a charter under the title of the [[Royal Niger Company]] and in 1899 was taken over by the British government, its territories being constituted the protectorate of [[Nigeria]]. West African affairs, however, by no means exhausted Lord Aberdare's energies, and it was principally through his efforts that a charter was in 1894 obtained for the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, a constituent institution of the University of Wales. This is now [[Cardiff University]]. Lord Aberdare, who in 1885 was made a Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Bath]], presided over several [[Royal Commission]]s at different times.<ref name=EB1911/>