Family of Cyprian Arthur George BRIDGE and Eleanor Collier THORNHILL

Husband:	Cyprian Arthur George BRIDGE (1839-1924)
Wife:	Eleanor Collier THORNHILL (1857?-1925)
Marriage	Sep 1877 (app)	Kensignton (1a 206)
Census (family)	1911	No. 1, Eaton Terrace
	Had 3 servants

Husband: Cyprian Arthur George BRIDGE

Wife: Eleanor Collier THORNHILL

Name:	Eleanor Collier THORNHILL
Sex:	Female
Father:	George THORNHILL ( - )
Mother:	-
Birth	1857 (app)	Wootton, Oxfordshire
Death	28 Aug 1925 (age 67-68)	Hove, Sussex

Note on Husband: Cyprian Arthur George BRIDGE

No children from marriage to Eleanor Thornhill

1881 Census - Captain Royal Navy Active - Lodger 6, Southwick Street, Kensington

1901 Census - Vice Admiral - 22, Wilton Street, Westminster

01/11/2007 ECU Bridge first went to England in 1851 with a nomination

for the navy given to him by Admiral Cochrane. He was sent to school at

Walthamstow House, passed the entrance examination for the navy in

January 1853, and was appointed to the sloop "Medea" and later to the

flagship "Cumberland" stationed in North America. In early 1854, Bridge

was then transferred to a corvette that sailed into northern waters at the

outbreak of war with Russia, and he participated in the operations carried

out in the White Sea.

 

After serving two years as cadet, Bridge passed for midshipman in 1855.

He was then appointed to the "Pelorus" for service in the East Indies and

took part in a number of military operations over the following three

years. He was promoted to mate in 1858 and lieutenant in 1859. He then

joined the "Algiers" and saw service in the Mediterranean. Bridge

subsequently served on board the "Hawke" on the Irish station, and the

"Fawn" (1864-1867) in the West Indies.(2) Bridge then transferred to the

"Excellent" in order to qualify in gunnery. He did not, however, serve as a

gunnery specialist, as he was invited by Sir Alfred Ryder to act as his

flag-lieutenant in the Channel fleet.(3)

 

In April 1869, at the age of thirty, Bridge was promoted to commander

and appointed to the "Caledonia" in the Mediterranean. After two years

service on that ship, he served for one year aboard the gunnery ship

"Cambridge," one year on the "Implacable," and two and a half years on

the "Audacious," the flagship of Admiral Ryder in China.

 

In September 1877 he was further promoted to captain. Bridge was also

married in the same year to Eleanor Thornhill, daughter of George

Thornhill, of the Indian civil service. There were no children from their

marriage. During the following four years Bridge took half pay and spent

time studying and writing about the beginnings of the German navy,

publishing two papers in the Journal of the Royal United States

Institution. During 1878 and 1879 Bridge also served on the Admiralty

and War Office committees on heavy guns, armor plates and projectiles,

and explosives; for six months in 1881 he was also a member of the

ordnance committee.

 

He was then appointed to command the "Espiegle" in Australia, also

concurrently becoming the deputy commissioner for the Western

Pacific. Bridge returned from Australia in September 1885, took half pay

for six months, and was then appointed to command the "Colossus," the

newest type of battleship.(4) He left this command in 1888 and was

made director of the recently established Intelligence Department at the

Admiralty in 1889. Bridge was further promoted to flag captain in 1892

and left his post as director in the Admiralty in August of 1894.

 

In November of the same year, Bridge assumed the post of Commander-

in-Chief of the Australian squadron, a position which he held aboard the

"Orlando" until 1898. He was then promoted to vice-admiral in 1898, but

had no further command until April 1901, when he was appointed

Commander-in-Chief in China. Bridge was further promoted to admiral in

1903, and remained in command in China until the spring of 1904, when

he returned to England. He retired, having reached the requisite age

limit, in March 1904.

 

Bridge served as an assessor on the North Sea Enquiry Commission

that investigated the Dogger Bank incident (October 1904), and as a

member of the Mesopotamia Commission of Inquiry appointed in August

1916.(5) He was also an Admiralty Representative on the Royal Patriotic

Fund Corporation from 1906 to 1912.(6) He died at Coombe Pines (a

house that he had built for himself in Kingston Hill, Surrey) on 16 August

1924.

 

Bridge was a proficient reader of Latin, French, German, and Swedish,

and was acquainted with Italian and Spanish. He was a student of war

and military history throughout his life, having written many works on

various relevant subjects in the course of his life.