Reginald Bridgeman

Born in London, he was the oldest son of Brigadier Francis Bridgeman, son of Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford, and his first wife Gertude Cecilia Hanbury, daughter of George Hanbury.{{cite book | last = Fox-Davies | first = Arthur Charles | title = Armorial Families | location = London | publisher = Hurst & Blackett | volume = I | year = 1929 }} He was educated at Harrow School and the University of Cambridge.{{cite book | last = Geiss | first = Imanuel | title = The Pan-African Movement | publisher = Taylor & Francis | ISBN = 0-8419-0161-9 | year = 1974 | pages = 502 }}

He was despatched as honorary attaché to Madrid in 1903 and became a clerk in the Foreign Office already in the next year.{{cite book | title = Who is Who 1963 | publisher = Adam & Charles Black Ltd. | location = London | year = 1963 | pages = 354 }} In 1908, Bridgeman joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service and became third secretary at the embassy in Paris.{{London Gazette | issue = 28154 |page=4817 | date = 3 July 1908 }} Bridgeman was promoted to second secretary three years later,{{London Gazette | issue = 28519 |page=5802 | date = 4 August 1911 }} was moved to Athens in 1916, but returned already in the following year. He became first secretary in 1918{{London Gazette | issue = 30881 |page=10391 | date = 3 September 1918 }} and was transferred as chargè d'affaires to Vienna in the next year. In 1920, Bridgeman was appointed counsellor of embassy at Teheran.{{London Gazette | issue = 32173 |page=12591 | date = 24 December 1920 }} After a visit to India he left the service influenced by his experiences there and sympathised with the Communist Party of Great Britain.

From 1925, Bridgeman worked as secretary in the Chinese Information Bureau.{{cite web | url = http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=050-dbn25&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18#-1 | title = National Archives - League Against Imperialism | accessdate = 6 August 2009 }} He was head of the British delegation sent by the House of Commons to the League Against Imperialism (LAI) in Brussels in 1927 and became its secretary in 1933.{{cite book | last = Leutner | first = Mechthild | title = The Chinese Revolution in the 1920s | publisher = Routledge | ISBN = 0-7007-1690-4 | year = 2002 | pages = 171 }} He contested Uxbridge for Labour in the 1929 general election, but was expelled from the party short time after, because of his membership in the LAI. After the League's dissolution, he was readmitted to Labour in 1938{{cite book | last = Bush | first = Barbara | title = Imperialism, Race, and Resistance | publisher = Routledge | ISBN = 0-415-15973-3 | year = 1999 | pages = 238 }} and was adopted as Labour's prospective candidate for Hendon. Bridgeman was expelled again in 1941 and after the Second World War, he joined the Britain-China Friendship Association. He was a member of the British-Soviet Friendship Society and sat in the National Council for Civil Liberties. In 1962, he was nominated vice-chairman of the Co-ordinating Committee for Nuclear Disarmament.

In 1914, Bridgeman was awarded a Member of the Royal Victorian Order{{London Gazette | issue = 28828 |page=3660 | date = 5 May 1914 }} and in 1917 a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.{{London Gazette | issue = 30111 | supp=y |page=5458 | date = 1 June 1917 }} On 4 June 1923, he married Olwen Elizabeth Jones, oldest daughter of Maurice Jones, and had by her four children, two sons and two daughters.{{cite web | url= http://www.thepeerage.com/p14936.htm#i149353| title= ThePeerage - Reginald Francis Orlando Bridgeman | accessdate= 2 November 2006}} Bridgeman died in 1968 and was buried at Tong, Shropshire.{{cite web | url = http://www.hull.ac.uk/arc/downloads/DBNcatalogue.pdf | format = PDF | title = University of Hull - Personal Papers of Reginald Francis Orlando Bridgeman | accessdate = 6 August 2009 }}

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Category:1884 births

Category:1968 deaths

Category:People educated at Harrow School

Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Members of the Royal Victorian Order

Reginald