Memorial palque to Cdr The Hon R O B Bridgeman DSO, in St Andrew's church, Weston Park, Weston-under-Lizard.
"A colour alabaster tablet with marble columns either side supporting an arch. Within this is a relief of a masted ship at sea against a blue sky. The inscription is incised within a tablet below with a relief of a seaplane at the base. The ship represents the ship of souls with birds circling around it. At the apex of the arch is a dove in low relief, at each foot of the arch is a crest. Below left column is a gilt crab in relief and at the base of the right column are two fish. Coloured butterflies are on the moulded frame around the inscription. A framed panel with explanation of the allegory on an alongside tablet."
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Inscription
Tablet:
TRANSLATED FROM THE WARFARE
OF THE WORLD TO THE PEACE OF GOD
COMMNDR THE HON. RICHARD. O.
B. BRIDGEMAN. D.S.O. R.N. WHO
LAID DOWN HIS LIFE IN THE
GREAT WAR WHEN FLYING OVER THE
RUFIGI RIVER IN EAST AFRICA JAN 9, 1917 Panel:
~EXPLANATION OF MEMORIAL~
The basic idea of the memorial is the
Ship of Souls.
The birds circling round the ship are the
souls, coming from the past, and entering
the future. The spiral swirl of them is
intended to typify the spiral courses of life.
The dove above is the Holy Spirit of
peace bearing the olive branch in its beak, the
messenger of peace to humanity.
Below the columns are the crab and
fishes, to suggest the sea and an
interest in natural things.
Round the inscription panel are the
butterflies, which formed so large a
place in Commander Bridgeman's
interests.
Underneath is a seaplane, by
which he met his death."The Honorable Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman was born on February 28, 1879 in the Chelsea section of London, England. He was the sixth of the seven children of George Cecil Orlando Bridgeman, 4th Earl of Bradford and Lady Ida Frances Annabella Lumley, daughter of Richard George Lumley, 9th Earl of Scarbrough.
Bridgeman has a couple of connections to royalty. His mother served for 35 years as Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Mary, wife of King George V, first while she was Princess of Wales and then also when she was Queen Consort. In addition, one of Richard’s sisters, Lady Margaret Alice Bridgeman, married John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 7th Duke of Buccleuch and was the mother of Lady Alice Christabel Montagu-Douglas-Scott who married Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, son of King George V. Therefore, Bridgeman was the uncle of Lady Alice and is the great uncle of the current Duke of Gloucester who is also named Richard.
Bridgeman was christened on April 10, 1879 at the Castle Bromwich Hall church with close family friend, former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, as one of his godparents. He grew up with his six siblings at Castle Bromwich Hall and at Weston Park.
Bridgeman’s six siblings:
* Lady Beatrice Bridgeman (1870 – 1952), married Colonel Rt. Hon. Ernest Pretyman, had issue
* Lady Margaret Bridgeman (1872 – 1954), married John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 7th Duke of Buccleuch, had issue
* Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford (1873 – 1957), married The Hon. Margaret Bruce, had issue
* Lady Helena Bridgeman (1875 – 1947), married Osbert Molyneux, 6th Earl of Sefton, had issue
* Lady Florence Bridgeman (1877 – 1936), married Ronald Norman, had issue
* Lieutenant-Colonel The Hon. Henry Bridgeman (1882 – 1972), married Joan Constable-Maxwell, had issue
Bridgeman joined the Royal Navy at the age of thirteen. He later commanded gunboats in China and a destroyer in the North Sea, and served during the Boer War. In 1911, Bridgeman served as First Lieutenant aboard the RMS Medina which took King George V and Queen Mary to India for the Delhi Durbar. In 1914, during World War I, Bridgeman served as Commander of HMS Hyacinth, a ship of the East Coast of Africa Blockading Squadron. In 1915, during the operation to destroy the German cruiser SMS Königsberg, Bridgeman participated in preliminary reconnoissances as an observer in seaplanes. With the use of his sketches and photographs, it was possible to determine the correct position of Königsberg and severely damage it. For his work on that mission, Bridgeman received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
On January 6, 1917, Bridgeman, acting as the observer, set off on a reconnaissance flight over the Rufiji River Delta with pilot and aviation pioneer Edwin Moon. They were forced to land because of engine trouble and landed in a creek of the Rufiji River Delta. Forced to destroy the seaplane to avoid its capture by the Germans, Bridgeman and Edwin Moon then spent three days in the delta trying to avoid capture. During this time they had little or nothing to eat and had to continually swim across the creeks because the vegetation on the banks was impenetrable. On January 7, they constructed a raft from the window frame of a house. After two days of drifting on the raft, they were swept out to sea on the morning of January 9. Bridgeman was not a strong swimmer and died of exhaustion and exposure. Edwin Moon tried to keep Bridgeman’s body on the raft, but it slipped off into the sea. After Moon had been on the raft for thirteen hours, the tide turned and the raft was tossed upon the shore. Moon was rescued by natives who handed him over to the Germans. The body of Commander The Honorable Richard Bridgeman washed ashore a few days afterward and was buried by the Germans. Moon was held in a prisoner of war camp until November of 1917. After his release from the prisoner of war camp, Moon, who had previously received a Distinguished Service Order (DSO), received a bar for his DSO for the display of “the greatest gallantry in attempting to save the life of his companion.” Bridgeman’s remains were later re-buried in the Dar es Salaam War Cemetery now in Tanzania."
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