Charles George Orlando Bridgeman ⁵⁴

  General Notes:

From The Times, December 29, 1933

Mr. Charles George Orlando Bridgeman, who died last week at the age of
81, was the younger of two sons of the Rev. the Hon. George Bridgeman,
his mother being a daughter of the Hon. Richard Bagot, Bishop of Bath
and Wells.
Educated, like his father and grandfather, the second Earl of
Bradford, at Harrow (The Grove), where he was Spencer scholar, he
remained an enthusiastic Old Harrovian all his life, and prided
himself on never having been absent from an Eton and Harrow match for
60 successive years. He was a good cricketer in his day, and was in
the cricket and football elevens. Charlie Bridgeman, the name by
which his friends knew him, went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and
after taking his degree, was called to the Bar in 1876. He practised
for a short time in Lancashire, in the Palentine Court, before coming
to London, where, for well over half a century as a chancery and
conveyancing counsel, he was the trusted confidant and adviser of a
number of family solicitors. He worked right up to the end of his
long life - indeed, within a week of his death he was still at work,
his intellect being as clear as ever.
Bridgeman was an archaeologist of no mean order, and from time to time
made valuable contributions to the publications of archaeological and
other societies. He earned special applause in editing the Text of
the Surveys of the Lands of the Abbey of Burton-on-Trent - the first
of which surveys antedated everything except Domesday itself. It was
described by Professor Stenton in 1931 as the best available material
for showing the realities of social life under the Norman kings, and
he congratulated Bridgeman on his "magnificent and scholarly" work.
This was characteristic of all his work - scholarly, done with
meticulous care, absolutely trustworthy. He set himself a high
standard in his work and mode of life. This and his charm of
character ever had a refining influence on those in contact with him.
Bridgeman was also an expert in peerage law, and his knowledge and
advice were invaluable, notably in the claims to the Earldom of
Lauderdale and the Dukedom of Somerset, in both of which he was
engaged.
Among the poor in the East End of London Bridgeman did good work and
nearly 50 years ago with other friends founded a successful working
men's club in Ratcliff Highway. His taste for music was helpful to
him in this work; he was specially fond of sacred music, and for a
number of years was a regular member of the choir of St. Peter's,
Eaton Square. Mr. Bridgeman married in 1888 Sidney, daughter of the
late General Sir Henry Lynedoch Gardiner. She survives him with a
daugher, Miss Victoria Bridgeman, and a son, Major Roger Orlando
Bridgeman, late The Rifle Brigade, Governor of H.M. Prison,
Dorchester, who married a few years ago a daughter of General the Hon.
Sir Richard Stuart-Wortley

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census UK 1911: 1911, Lucas Grange, Haywards Heath, Sussex. ¹⁰

2. Resided: 19 December 1933, 11 Stone Buildings, Lincolns Inn, London. ¹³

3. Resided: 19 December 1933, 83 Hamilton Terrace, St. Johns Wood, London. ¹³

4. He had an estate probated on 15 February 1934 in London. ¹³

Charles married Sidney Gardiner, daughter of General Sir Henry Lynedoch Gardiner and Unknown, in 1888.⁵⁴ (Sidney Gardiner was born c 1864 in Charlton, Kent ¹⁰ and died on 8 April 1936 in St. Johns Wood, London ¹³.)