 It is uncertain how Bruce was employed after his return from Spitsbergen in autumn 1899 . In his whole life he rarely had settled salaried work , and usually relied on patronage or on influential acquaintances to find him temporary posts . Early in 1901 he evidently felt sufficiently confident of his prospects to get married . His bride was Jessie Mackenzie , who had worked as a nurse in Samuel Bruce 's London surgery . Bruce 's secretive nature , even among his circle of close friends and colleagues , was such that precise information about the wedding — its exact date , its location — has not been recorded by his biographers . 
