Viscount Newport and Hon R Bridgeman - St Andrew - Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

Memorial window dedicated to Orlando Viscount Newport and the Hon Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman in St Andrew's church, Weston Park, Weston-under-Lizard.

The memorial consists of a window with two round headed lights, a figure and inscription in each of them. Left light - a red-winged St Michael stands in his armour on a blue dead dragon which has bared teeth and claws. In the right light - a blue-winged Gabriel looks heavenward holding an olive branch.

Inscription -
Across lights:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN HUMBLE GRATITUDE TO HIM FOR THE SAFE
RETURN OF ORLANDO VISCOUNT NEWPORT CAPT. 3RD ROYAL SCOTS AND
THE HONBLE RICHARD BRIDGEMAN LT RN FROM THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA
THIS WINDOW IS PLACED HERE BY THEIR FATHER AND MOTHER 1902
LEFT LIGHT:
THE LORD SHALL GIVE HIS PEOPLE
RIGHT LIGHT:
THE BLESSING OF PEACE

"Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford
Lieutenant-Colonel Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford, DL, JP (6 October 1873 – 21 March 1957), styled Viscount Newport from 1898 to 1915, was a British peer, Conservative politician and soldier. He was a major landowner, owning up to 20,000 acres (8,100 ha).

Bridgeman was the oldest son of George Bridgeman, 4th Earl of Bradford and his wife Lady Ida Frances Annabella Lumley, second daughter of Richard Lumley, 9th Earl of Scarbrough. Bridgeman was educated at Harrow School and went then to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1896 and with a Master of Arts in 1903. At Cambridge, he was secretary of the Pitt Club. He succeeded his father as earl in 1915.

Bridgeman joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment), and was appointed a captain on 29 April 1899. The battalion was embodied in December 1899 to serve in the Second Boer War, and in early March 1900 left Queenstown, Ireland on the SS Oriental for South Africa. He fought in the war after arrival in 1900, and again in 1902, returning from Cape Town to the United Kingdom with most of his regiment in May 1902. He again fought in the First World War from 1915 as a lieutenant-colonel. Bridgeman was appointed Honorary Colonel of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1939.

Bridgeman was assistant private secretary to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury in his posts as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1898 and 1900 and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a few weeks during the summer of 1902. Salisbury resigned on 11 July 1902, and Lord Newport subsequently was private secretary to Salisbury's successor Arthur Balfour from July 1902 until 1905. Having joined the House of Lords on his father's death, Bridgeman became Government Whip in 1919, a post he held until 1924. He was Justice of the Peace for Shropshire and represented the latter county as well as Warwickshire as Deputy Lieutenant, too."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"Hon. Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman

Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman was born on 28 Feb 1879 at Chelsea, London. He was the second son of George Bridgeman, 4th Earl of Bradford, and his wife, Ida Frances. The family lived at Castle Bromwich, where Richard was baptised on 10th April.

At the age of 13 Richard enrolled in the Navy. He later commanded gunboats in China and a destroyer in the North Sea. He served at the Cape during the whole of the Boer War. In 1911 he was First-Lieutenant of the Medina during the voyage of the King and Queen to India and was in command of the Naval Guard of Honour at Delhi - for which he was awarded the Coronation Durbar Medal. In 1914 he was Commander of HMS Hyacinth, a ship of the East Coast of Africa Blockading Squadron and was appointed Flag Commander. He was involved in the operation to destroy the German cruiser Konigsberg when he "undertook preliminary reconnaissances as observer in inefficient seaplanes and with assistance of his sketches and photographs rendered it possible to fix correct position of Konigsberg." On that occasion he had a narrow escape when a bullet passed through his cap. In July, 1916, he was awarded the D.S.O.:

Cdr. Bridgeman displayed great courage and coolness on the 19th August, 1915, in command of two whalers which proceeded into Tanga Harbour. The manner in which the whalers endeavoured, though subjected to a heavy and accurate fire, to carry out their orders and board the S.S. Markgraf was worthy of the best traditions of the Royal Navy. [London Gazette, 14 July 1916.]

Richard Bridgeman died after the aeroplane in which he was acting as Observer developed engine problems. The circumstances are described in the citation of an award to the pilot, Edwin Moon:

On the 6th January, 1917, whilst on a reconnaissance flight over the Rufiji Delta with Cdr. The Hon. Richard O. B. Bridgeman, D.S.O., R.N., as observer, he was obliged by engine trouble to descend in one of the creeks, where it became necessary to destroy the seaplane to avoid the possibility of its being captured. For three whole days the two officers wandered about the delta in their efforts to avoid capture and to rejoin their ship. During this time they had little or nothing to eat, and were continually obliged to swim across the creeks, the bush on the banks being impenetrable. On the morning of the 7th January they constructed a raft of three spars and some latticed window-frames. After paddling and drifting on this for the whole of the 7th and 8th January, they were finally carried out to sea on the morning of the 9th, when Cdr. Bridgeman, who was not a strong swimmer, died of exhaustion and exposure. In the late afternoon Flt. Cdr. Moon managed to reach the shore, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was released from captivity on the 21st November, 1917. He displayed the greatest gallantry in attempting to save the life of his companion. [London Gazette, 15 March 1918.]

The Birmingham Daily Post gives more details:

HOW COMMANDER BRIDGEMAN MET HIS DEATH. A full account of the death of Commander the Hon. R Bridgeman, D.S.O., son of the late Earl of Bradford, has now been received from East Africa. Commander Bridgeman and Flight Commander E. R, Moon, D.S.0., were engaged in flying operations on a seaplane when they were forced to land in the Rufigi delta owing to magnetic failure. Having burned the machine they proceeded up the bank of the river, and Moon swam across the stream, which was swarming with crocodiles, with a view to finding a boat. But his quest failing, he, the following day, again crossed the river, but was carried down some distance by the ebb tide before he could land, and had to make his way back through the mangroves. Apart from cocoa-nuts the officers had had nothing to eat or drink since leaving their station at nightfall.

After much weary wandering they discovered an empty bouse, and by removing the window frame and roughly fastening planks across they constructed a raft. In his anxiety to escape the enemy's watchers Flight Commander Moon failed to stem the tide and the raft was carried out to sea. A strong north-easterly wind increased his difficulties. The raft became partially waterlogged and Flight Commander Moon had the terrible task of keeping himself afloat on the raft and also supporting Commander Bridgeman in his arms to keep his head out of water. On the fourth day Flight Commander Moon spent thirteen hours on the raft, the last nine of which were in open sea. Again and again Commander Bridgeman was washed off the raft and was rescued by Flight Commander Moon, but finally He died of exhaustion or exposure, or he was washed off the raft and Flight Commander Moon could not recover him.

During the course of the fourth afternoon the raft was drfted back by the tide to within a short distance of the shore, and Flight Commander Moon managed to regain land. This final struggle must have been the most arduous of all, for when he was finally clear of the water his face, hands, and feet were cut to pieces by the rocks. A native watcher noticed his predicament and conducted him to Kiomborie, where two Germans were living. There Flight Commander Moon collapsed, and could only point to his mouth to signify he wanted food. He soon recovered, and is now quite well. Commander Bridgeman's body was washed ashore a few days afterwards close to Newbridge, and buried by the Germans. [22 October, 1917]

Commander The Hon. Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman, D.S.O., R.N., is now buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery. He is commemorated at Weston-under-Lizard, at Castle Bromwich and in Zanzibar Anglican Cathedral. He was awarded the 1914/15 Star and the Victory and British War Medals."

SOURCE - (visit link)

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