Difference between revisions of "Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman"

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Admiral SIR Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., J.P., Royal Navy (7 December, 1848 – 17 February, 1929) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He twice commanded the British Home Fleet in the run-up to the First World War, and served as Second Sea Lord and First Sea Lord. He was dismissed in acrimonious circumstances by Winston Churchill in 1912, and went into retirement a year later.

Early Life & Career

Bridgeman was born Francis Charles Bridgeman-Simpson at Babworth, Nottinghamshire, on 7 December, 1848. He was the fourth son of the Reverend William Bridgeman Simpson (1813–1895), rector of Babworth (who was nephew of Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Earl of Bradford), and his wife, Lady Frances Laura Fitzwilliam (1813–1887), daughter of Charles William, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam. He resumed the family name of Bridgeman in 1896. He entered the Britannia as a naval cadet in 1862, and after serving as Midshipman in the Pacific and the Channel fleets, in 1868 went for nearly four years to the Blanche on the Australian station, being promoted Sub-Lieutenant in 1869. Bridgeman was promoted Lieutenant in 1873, and, having taken up gunnery, served for nearly four years on the China station in the Encounter as Gunnery Lieutenant: while doing the same duty in the Téméraire in the Mediterranean he was promoted Commander in 1884. In this rank he served in the Triumph, Sir Michael Culme-Seymour's Flagship in the Pacific, from 1885 to 1888, and afterwards in the gunnery training ship Excellent until he was promoted Captain in 1890. On 6 November, 1889, he married Emily Charlotte (1842–1922), daughter of Thomas and Mary Shiffner. Emily was six years older than Bridgeman, and had inherited Copgrove, a mansion near Harrogate.^[1]

Captaincy and Flag Rank

Bridgeman's first ten years as Captain were mainly employed as Flag Captain to Culme-Seymour in the Channel Fleet and the Mediterranean, and at Portsmouth. In October, 1900 he went on half pay until January, 1903, when he commissioned the Drake and joined Admiral W. H. Fawkes's cruiser squadron. In August of that year he was promoted Rear-Admiral; on 25 June, 1904 he hoisted his flag as Second-in-Command in the Channel Fleet in succession to Rear-Admiral the Honourable Hedworth Lambton,^[2] and in 1906 he again served as Second-in-Command to Beresford, this time in the Mediterranean Fleet. In March, 1907, having reached the rank of Vice-Admiral, he was selected as Commander-in-Chief of the newly formed Home Fleet, and held this command for two years with his flag in the new battleship Dreadnought. From 1910 until March, 1911 he was Second Sea Lord at the Admiralty under Reginald McKenna. He then returned as Admiral to the command of the Home Fleet; but in December of the same year he came back to the Admiralty as First Sea Lord under Winston Churchill, on the retirement of Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson. Twelve months later he resigned. On his resignation he was promoted G.C.B., having been created K.C.V.O. in 1907 and K.C.B. in 1908, and promoted G.C.V.O. in 1911. In another year he had reached the age limit of his rank and was placed on the retired list. On leaving the Admiralty he went to live at Copgrove Hall, Burton Leonard, near Harrogate, his country seat, and rarely went to London except to attend court functions in his capacity as Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom, to which he was appointed in 1920 in succession to his old chief, Sir Michael Culme-Seymour.

Bridgeman was a man of singularly handsome presence, and a fine sea officer with a great knowledge of the service. He was a strong supporter of the naval reforms and strategic schemes of Lord Fisher, and gave him loyal and valuable support in the formation of the Home Fleet originally created out of the reserve divisions at the home ports. When Bridgeman returned to its command in March, 1911, it had been combined with the Channel Fleet, and he did fine work in organizing and training it for the duties which it was later to fulfil with the Grand Fleet during the First World War.

First Sea Lord

Bridgeman had had no previous administrative experience at the Admiralty before he became Second Sea Lord, but he was regarded as a man of sound judgement and commanded confidence in the fleet. When Churchill became First Lord and reconstituted the Board of Admiralty, he chose Bridgeman as his First Sea Lord. Bridgeman was a loyal supporter of Churchill in his plans for the constitution of a naval war staff. Nevertheless he soon became annoyed at Churchill's methods, such as sending signals to the fleet without the authority of the Board and circulating peremptory orders to the other Sea Lords. Churchill, in turn, after a year apparently found Bridgeman unsatisfactory and used his poor health as an excuse to require his resignation. He loyally accepted the decision, but the form in which it was communicated to him caused much resentment, and was the subject of an acrimonious debate in the House of Commons.

Retirement

On 7 December, 1913, Bridgeman was placed on the Retired List.^[3] Bridgeman was popular in his home county of Yorkshire, and after his retirement devoted himself to the pursuits of a country squire. After the war he was chairman of the divisional council for demobilization and resettlement in the Yorkshire and East Midland areas. He died at Nassau in the Bahamas on 17 February, 1929; his burial took place at St. Michael and All Angels, Copgrove, on 4 March, 1929.

Bridgeman was appointed Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom when Sir Michael Culme-Seymour resigned, dated 2 February, 1920.^[4] Upon the death of Lord Fisher, Bridgeman served as one of the honorary pallbearers along with former First Sea Lords Jellicoe and Jackson, and five other admirals.^[5] The following year he served as a honorary pallbearer at the funeral of Lord Charles Beresford. On either the 22nd,^[6] 23rd^[7] or 25th^[8] of November, 1922, Lady Bridgeman died at the age of eighty. Her funeral took place on 29 November at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Copgrove.^[6] Allegedly Bridgeman regarded Battenberg (later Marquess of Milford Haven) as a leading figure in his removal as First Sea Lord, and later blocked the election of Battenberg's son Lord Louis Mountbatten to the Royal Yacht Squadron.^[9]

Wealth at death; £138,354 5s. 11d.: Probate; 31 July, 1929.

Assessment

Arthur Marder, writing in 1961, wrote of Bridgeman:

Although not a particularly forceful person, and more a follower than a leader, Bridgeman did possess sound judgment and he might have made a moderately successful First Sea Lord, had he served under anybody but Churchill. The two simply did not get along, the root trouble being Bridgeman's resentment against the First Lord's interference in everything.^[10]

Marder is hardly in a position to judge who would be a "successful" First Sea Lord, let alone a "moderately successful" one. It is difficult to deny however that Bridgeman was put in a difficult position. Having been appointed by a man who made a career of sidelining people (as well as being sidelined), with Battenberg in the wings as a First Sea Lord-in-waiting, Bridgeman never had a chance.

Footnotes

Bibliography

Service Record