Francis Bridgeman (Royal Navy officer)
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| Francis Bridgeman | |
|---|---|
| 7 December 1848 – 17 February 1929 | |
 Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman |
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| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |  Royal Navy |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands held | First Sea Lord Second Sea Lord |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order |
Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman GCB, GCVO (7 December 1848 – 17 February 1929) was a British sailor.
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The son of Reverend William Bridgeman Simpson and Lady Frances Laura Wentworth FitzWilliam (herself daughter of the Earl Fitzwilliam), and descendant of the 1st Baron Bradford was Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VII between 1901 and 1903. From 1907 to 1909, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, from 1909 to 1911 he was Second Sea Lord.
Bridgeman became First Sea Lord in November 1911,[1] and "got the job by default. From a thin list, Bridgeman had one unusual quality in the pre-1914 navy: a willingness to delegate. But he was also subject to ill-health, and in barely a year this had provided the excuse for his replacement in December 1912".[1] In the opinion of one historian: "The combination of frequent change and weak appointees [Bridgeman, Wilson and Battenberg] ensured that the professional leadership of the Royal Navy lost its direction in the four years preceding the war."[1] However, others have taken a more nuanced view of these men. Arthur Marder wrote that while Bridgeman and Battenberg "were not especially forceful and allowed Churchill a good deal of rope", Bridgeman "did possess sound judgement and he might have made a moderately successful First Sea Lord had he served under anybody but Churchill."[2] Indeed it was Bridgeman's efforts to blockade some of Churchill's more controversial schemes that led to his dismissal, as he himself recognized in a letter to Francis Hopwood: "I was forced out without warning, but it was not because I was too weak, but because I was too strong!"[3]
By 1922, Bridgeman had become Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom and held this post until 1929.
Invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1911, and of the Order of the Bath one year later, Bridgeman was also a Commander of the Legion of Honour (2nd class), and of the Saviour of Greece.
On 6 November 1889, he married Emily Charlotte Shiffner, daughter of Thomas Shiffner. He died aged 80 without issue.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c Strachan, Hew, The First World War, Volume I: To Arms, pub Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-820877-4 page 380.
- ^ Marder, Arthur J. (1961). From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow. Volume 1. The Road to War 1904-1914. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 255, 258.
- ^ Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman to Sir Francis Hopwood, 8 December 1912, Royal Archives. Cited in Marder. From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow. Volume I. p. 259.
[edit] References
- "thePeerage". http://www.thepeerage.com/p14924.htm#i149240. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
[edit] Further reading
- Stewart Ross (1998). Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman. ISBN 0-9523628-8-0.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir William May |
Second Sea Lord 1909–1911 |
Succeeded by Sir George Egerton |
| Preceded by Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson |
First Sea Lord 1911–1912 |
Succeeded by Prince Louis of Battenberg |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, Bt |
Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom ?–1929 |
Succeeded by Sir Stanley Colville |
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