Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/242

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Bridge
222
Bridges

Barnard [q. v. Suppl. I], and had three daughters.

[Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers; Graves's Royal Academy Exhibitors; private information.]

M. H.


BRIDGE, THOMAS WILLIAM (1848–1909), zoologist, born at Birmingham on 5 Nov. 1848, was eldest son of Thomas Bridge, a boot and shoe maker, and Lucy, daughter of Thomas Crosbee, both of Birmingham. After attending a private school he studied at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, and in 1870 went to Cambridge as private assistant to John Willis Clark [q. v. Suppl. II], then superintendent of the University Museum of Zoology. Two years later he entered Trinity College as a foundation scholar, and whilst an undergraduate was appointed university demonstrator in comparative anatomy. Coming out first in the second class of the natural science tripos of 1875, he graduated B.A. in 1876 and M.A. in 1880. In 1879 Bridge was elected professor of zoology at the Dublin Royal College of Science, but after a year, on the institution of Mason College, Birmingham, he returned to his native place as professsor of biology. Subsequently the chair was divided into a botanical and a zoological professorship, and Bridge held the latter appointment to the time of his death.

Both as teacher and as organiser, Bridge contributed much to the success of the Mason College and of the new Birmingham University, being chairman of the academic board in the former and devoting himself unstintingly to the welfare of his college and department.

As an investigator Bridge was distinguished for his researches into the anatomy of fish, and in particular for his work upon the swim or air-bladder. His most important contribution upon this subject was published in the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society' in 1893; whilst his article on 'Fishes' in the 'Cambridge Natural History' (vol. vii. 1904) is a good example of his careful, lucid, and accurate method. He was made Sc.D. at Cambridge in 1896 and was elected F.R.S. in 1903. He died at Birmingham, unmarried, on 29 June 1909.

[Proc. Roy. Soc. lxxxii. B., 1910; Birmingham Daily Post, 1 July 1909.]

F. W. G.


BRIDGES, JOHN HENRY (1832–1906), positivist philosopher, second son of Charles Bridges [q. v.] by Harriet Torlesse, his wife, was born on 11 Oct. 1832, at Old Newton, Suffolk, where his father was then vicar. Brought up in the strictest system of evangelical orthodoxy, he was at first educated at private schools. Entering Rugby in August 1845, under Dr. Tait, he left the school with a scholarship from the sixth form at midsummer, 1851, the head master then being Dr. Goulburn. He became senior scholar at Wadham College, Oxford, in Oct. 1851; was placed in the second class in classical moderations in 1853, and in the third class in the final examination in 1854. He was proxime accessit for the Hertford University scholarship in 1852, and gained the Arnold prize in 1856 for an essay on 'The Jews in Europe in the Middle Ages,' which was published in 'Oxford Essays,' 1857. On 1 Feb. 1855 he graduated B.A. and in March won a fellowship at Oriel. Thereupon Bridges took up the study of medicine; and after attending St. George's Hospital, London, and working in Paris, he graduated M.B. at Oxford in 1859.

In 1860 he married his cousin Susan, fifth daughter of C. Torlesse, vicar of Stoke-by-Nayland, and immediately (February 1860) emigrated to Melbourne in Australia, with high testimonials to his professional skill. The death of his wife followed soon after then: arrival. Bridges at once returned to England and began practice in Bradford, Yorkshire, where he was appointed physician to the infirmary in 1861. In 1867 he was elected F.R.C.P., and in 1869 he became a factory inspector for the North Riding. Next year he was appointed a metropolitan medical inspector to the local government board, and until his resignation in 1898 he resided in London, occupied with his official work at Whitehall. After his retirement he worked on the metropolitan asylums board and took part in movements for the improvement of the public health. He died at Tunbridge Wells on 15 June 1906, being buried there in the churchyard of St. Barnabas (for service of commemoration see Positivist Review, xiv. 179).

Bridges married secondly, in 1869, Mary Alice, eldest daughter of George Hadwen, of Kebroyde, a silk manufacturer of Halifax. Mrs. Bridges survived her husband. A life-sized portrait in oils was painted by Frederick Yates in 1906.

Bridges impressed his associates through life 'not merely with his ability but with his courageous pursuit of truth at all hazards.' At Wadham College he had come under the influence of Dr. Richard Congreve [q. v. Suppl. I], who was then fellow and tutor; and during the next thirty years he maintained a close friendship with him. Under Congreve's influence Bridges