Geoffrey Bridgeman

Brigadier The Honourable Geoffrey John Orlando Bridgeman MC (3 July 1898 – 15 October 1974),[1] styled The Honourable from 1929, was a British soldier and ophthalmologist.

Background and education

Born at Harley Street in London, Bridgeman was the second son of William Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman.[2] His mother Caroline was the daughter of Cecil Thomas Parker, younger son of Thomas Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield.[2] Bridgeman's younger brother Maurice was a businessman and civil servant.[2] He was educated at Eton College and went then to Trinity College, Cambridge.[3] From 1917 he fought in the First World War, being commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery.[4] In 1918 he was decorated with the Military Cross[5] and after the end of the war retired as lieutenant.[3] He resumed his studies in Cambridge and after winning a classical exhibition, Bridgeman read natural sciences and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1920.[6] Six years later at St George's Hospital he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and in 1928 he received further a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.[6]

Career

Bridgeman worked first as chief clinical assistant at Moorfields Eye Hospital and then as ophthalmic surgeon at East Ham Memorial Hospital.[1] Subsequently, he returned to St George's and became employed at the Western Ophthalmic Hospital.[1] During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and gained the rank of brigadier.[3] Bridgeman was attached to the Middle East and came afterwards to India.[3] He was an honorary consultant ophthalmologist at the India and Burma Office and was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1933.[4] Bridgeman held membership of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom and of the British Medical Association.[7]

Family

On 3 July 1929, Bridgeman married Mary Meriel Gertrude Talbot (18 January 1903 – 5 July 1974), daughter of the Rt. Hon. Sir George John Talbot and Gertrude Harriot Cator.[8] The couple had three children, one son and two daughters:[8][9]

Mary died in 1961 and Bridgeman survived her until 1974.[8] His son Robin succeeded his uncle Robert Bridgeman, 2nd Viscount Bridgeman, in his title in 1982.[8] His granddaughter is actress Flora Montgomery.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Obituary notices". The British Medical Journal. IV (5942): 474–475. 23 November 1974. doi:10.1136/bmj.4.5942.474. S2CID 220210752.
  2. ^ a b c Fox-Davies (1929), p. 213.
  3. ^ a b c d T. Keith Lyle (July 1975). "Obituary". The British Journal of Ophthalmology. 59 (7): 393. doi:10.1136/bjo.59.7.393. PMC 1042648.
  4. ^ a b Who's Who (1963), p. 354.
  5. ^ "No. 30624". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 April 1918. p. 4411.
  6. ^ a b Cornelius (1988), p. 45.
  7. ^ Who's Who (1963), p. 355.
  8. ^ a b c d de Massue (1994), p. 287.
  9. ^ a b Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 499.

References

  • Who's Who 1963. London: Adam & Charles Black Ltd. 1963.
  • Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. Vol. I. London: Hurst & Blackett.
  • Cornelius, Eustace Hope (1988). Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1974–1982. London: Royal College of Surgeons of England. ISBN 0-902166-03-4.
  • (Marquis of Ruvigny & Raineval) de Massue, Melville Henry (1994). Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Clarence Volume. London: Genealogical Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8063-1432-X.