Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford

The Earl of Bradford

Arms of the Earl of Bradford
Born 6 October 1873
Died 21 March 1957 (aged 83)
Title Earl of Bradford
Tenure 2 January 1915 – 21 March 1957
Other titles 5th Viscount Newport
6th Baron Bradford
10th Baronet Bridgeman of Great Lever
Successor Gerald Bridgeman, 6th Earl of Bradford
Spouse(s) Margaret Cecilia Bruce
Issue Diana Abdy, Lady Abdy
The Hon. Ursula Bridgeman
Gerald Bridgeman, 6th Earl of Bradford
Anne Pearson, Viscountess Cowdray
Lady Joan Bridgeman
Parents George Bridgeman, 4th Earl of Bradford
Lady Ida Annabella Frances Lumley

Lieutenant-Colonel Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford DL, JP (6 October 1873 – 21 March 1957),[1] 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 (81 km2).[2]

Background

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.[3] 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.[4] At Cambridge, he was secretary of the Pitt Club.[5] He succeeded his father as earl in 1915.[1]

Career

Bridgeman served in the British Army where he joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment),[6] and was appointed a Captain on 29 April 1899. He fought in the Second Boer War in 1899 and the following year, and again in 1902, returning from Cape Town to the United Kingdom with most of his regiment in May 1902.[7] He again fought in the First World War from 1915 as a lieutenant-colonel.[6] Bridgeman was appointed Honorary Colonel of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1939.[8]

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 in 1902.[6] Subsequently he was private secretary to Salisbury's successor Arthur Balfour until 1905.[6] Having joined the House of Lords on his father's death, Bridgeman became Government Whip in 1919, a post he held until 1924.[3] He was Justice of the Peace for Shropshire and represented the latter county as well as Warwickshire as Deputy Lieutenant, too.[6]

Family

On 21 July 1904, he married The Hon. Margaret Cecilia Bruce (28 October 1882 – 16 April 1949), daughter of Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare. They had five children:[8]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Leigh Rayment – Peerage". Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  2. Who is Who 1951. London: Adam & Charles Black Ltd. 1951. pp. 318–319.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. vol. I. London: Hurst & Blackett.
  4. "Bridgeman, Orlando (BRGN782O)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. Fletcher, Walter Morley (2011) [1935]. The University Pitt Club: 1835–1935 (First Paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-107-60006-5.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Whitaker's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companioage. J. Whitaker & Sons. 1923. p. 460.
  7. "The War - Invalids and others returning home" The Times (London). Tuesday, 13 May 1902. (36766), p. 10.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "ThePeerage – Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford". Retrieved 17 November 2006.
  9. "(Helen) Diana (Bridgeman), Lady Abdy". National Portrait Gallery, London.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
The Lord Herschell
Lord-in-Waiting
1919–1924
New government
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
George Bradford
Earl of Bradford
2nd creation
1915–1957
Succeeded by
Gerald Bradford