Brigadier The Honourable Geoffrey John Orlando Bridgeman MC (3 July 1898 – 15 October 1974),[1] styled The Honourable from 1929, was a British soldier and ophthalmologist.
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Born at Harley Street in London, Bridgeman was the second son of William Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman.[2] His mother Caroline was the daughter of Cecil Thomas Parker, younger son Thomas Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield.[2] Bridgeman's younger brother Maurice was a businessman and civil servant.[2] He was educated in Eton College and went then to Trinity College, Cambridge.[3] From 1917 he fought in the First World War, being commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery.[4] In 1918 he was decorated with the Military Cross[5] and after the end of the war retired as lieutenant.[3] He resumed his studies in Cambridge and after winning a classical exhibition, Bridgeman read natural sciences and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1920.[6] Six years later at St George's Hospital he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and in 1928 he received further a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.[6]
Bridgeman worked first as chief clinical assistant at Moorfields Eye Hospital and then as ophthalmic surgeon at East Ham Memorial Hospital.[1] Subsequently he returned to St George's and became employed at the Western Ophthalmic Hospital.[1] During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and gained the rank of brigadier.[3] Bridgeman was attached to the Middle East and came afterwards to India.[3] He was an honorary consultant ophthalmologist at the India and Burma Office and was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1933.[4] Bridgeman held membership of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom and of the British Medical Association.[7]
On 3 July 1929, Bridgeman married Mary Meriel Gertrude Talbot (18 January 1903 - 5 July 1974), daughter of the Rt. Hon. Sir George John Talbot and Gertrude Harriot Cator.[8] The couple had three children, one son and two daughters[8][9]:
Mary died in 1961 and Bridgeman survived her until 1974.[8] His son Robin succeeded his uncle Robert Bridgeman, 2nd Viscount Bridgeman in his title in 1982.[8] His maternal granddaughter is actress Flora Montgomery.[9]