Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges

Edward Ettingdene Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges, KG, GCB, GCVO, PC, MC, FRS^[1] (4 August 1892 – 27 August 1969) was a British civil servant.

Born in Yattendon in Berkshire, Bridges was the son of Robert Bridges, later Poet Laureate, and Mary Monica Waterhouse, daughter of the architect Alfred Waterhouse. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. Bridges then fought in the First World War with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, achieved the rank of Captain and was awarded the Military Cross.

He later joined the Civil Service and in 1938 he was appointed Cabinet Secretary, succeeding Sir Maurice Hankey. Bridges remained in this post until 1946, when he was made Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and Head of the Home Civil Service, a position he held until 1956. He was invested a Privy Counsellor in 1953 and in 1957 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bridges, of Headley in the County of Surrey and of Saint Nicholas at Wade in the County of Kent. In 1965 he was given the additional honour of being made a Knight of the Garter.

After his retirement Lord Bridges notably served as Chancellor of the University of Reading. Moreover, he was given honorary degrees from several universities and appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[1] He also published The State and the Arts, Romanes Lecture for 1958, Oxford, and The Treasury (Oxford University Press, 1964).

Bridges married Katharine Dianthe Farrer, daughter of Thomas Cecil Farrer, 2nd Baron Farrer on 6 June 1922. They had four children:

Hon. Shirley Frances Bridges (b. 1924)
Thomas Edward Bridges, 2nd Baron Bridges (b. 1927) (a diplomat)
Hon. Robert Bridges (b. 1930) (an architect)
Hon. Margaret Evelyn Bridges (b. 1932) (a medieval historian)

Lord Bridges died at Winterfold Heath, Surrey, on 27 August 1969, aged 77. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Thomas, a prominent diplomat who notably served as British Ambassador to Italy from 1983 to 1987.

References

^ ^a ^b Winnifrith, J. (1970). "Edward Ettingdean Bridges--Baron Bridges. 1892-1969". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 16: 36–26. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1970.0003. edit

External links

Government offices
Preceded by Sir Maurice Hankey	Cabinet Secretary 1938-1946	Succeeded by Sir Norman Brook
Preceded by Sir Horace Wilson	Head of the Home Civil Service 1945-1956	Succeeded by Sir William Armstrong
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Baron Bridges 1957–1969	Succeeded by Thomas Bridges
Academic offices
Preceded by Sir Samuel Hoare	Chancellor of the University of Reading 1959–1969	Succeeded by Lord Sherfield

Heads of the Home Civil Service

Sir Warren Fisher · Sir Horace Wilson · Sir Edward Bridges · Sir William Armstrong · Sir Douglas Allen · Sir Robert Armstrong · Sir Robin Butler · Sir Richard Wilson · Sir Andrew Turnbull · Sir Gus O'Donnell · Sir Bob Kerslake

Secretaries of the Cabinet

Colonel Maurice Hankey · Sir Edward Bridges · Sir Norman Brook · General Sir Hastings Ismay · Sir Burke Trend · Sir John Hunt · Sir Robert Armstrong · Sir Robin Butler · Sir Richard Wilson · Sir Andrew Turnbull · Sir Gus O'Donnell · Sir Jeremy Heywood