Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges

Early life

Bridges was born on 4 August 1892 in Yattendon in Berkshire. He was the son of Robert Bridges, later Poet Laureate, and the pianist (Mary) Monica Waterhouse, daughter of the architect Alfred Waterhouse and niece of Price Waterhouse co-founder Edwin Waterhouse. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, taking a first from the latter in literae humaniores in 1914.

Career

Military service

Bridges then fought in the First World War with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, eventually achieving the rank of captain and being awarded the Military Cross.

Public service

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. In his post-war memoirs, Winston Churchill praised Bridges' wartime work as Secretary to the War Cabinet, writing that not only was Bridges "an extremely competent and tireless worker, but he was also a man of exceptional force, ability, and personal charm, without a trace of jealousy in his nature".

During his time as the Head of the Home Civil Service, Bridges promoted the opening of the Civil Service Club, which was a gift from Queen Elizabeth II by her wish, to be applied to some object of general benefit to the Civil and Foreign Services using the balance of the Wedding Fund collected by the Home Civil Service and the Foreign Service on the occasion of her wedding to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. The Civil Service Club has a meeting room named in honour of Bridges.

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

Personal life

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

Shirley Frances Bridges (1924–2015);

Thomas Edward Bridges, 2nd Baron Bridges (1927–2017), a diplomat;

Robert Bridges (1930–2015), an architect; and

Margaret Evelyn Bridges (1932–2014), a medieval historian, who married firstly Trevor Aston, and secondly Paul Buxton.

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

Honours

In the 1939 New Year Honours, Bridges was appointed to the Order of the Bath as a Knight Commander (KCB) and in the 1944 New Year Honours was promoted within the same Order as a Knight Grand Cross (GCB). In the 1946 Birthday Honours, he was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Grand Cross (GCVO). Bridges was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1952. He was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1953 Coronation Honours. In 1957, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bridges, of Headley in the County of Surrey, and of St Nicholas at Wade in the County of Kent. Bridges was appointed to the Order of the Garter as a Knight Companion (KG) in 1965.