Tom Bridges

After the war, he served in Greece, Russia, the Balkans, and Asia Minor before becoming Governor of South Australia from 1922 to 1927.

He was married in London on 14 November 1907, to a widow, Janet Florence Marshall; they had one daughter, Alvilde Bridges.

Attached to the Imperial Light Horse, he took part in the relief of Ladysmith, and received the rank of captain supernumerary to the establishment on 5 April 1900.

[5][1][4] He was confirmed as captain in the Royal Artillery on 8 January 1902,[6] and served in South Africa till the end of the war in June 1902, after which he left Cape Town in the SS Plassy in August, returning to Southampton the following month.

[7] For his war service, he was mentioned in dispatches (including the final despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902,[8]) and received a brevet promotion as major on 22 August 1902.

[9] Later that year saw him leave United Kingdom for Berbera,[10] where he took charge of Guns in a Flying Column serving in Somaliland.

Seeking a more rapid promotion in the army, Bridges transferred to the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1909, attaining the substantive rank of major.

[1] Early in World War I, Bridges was involved in the Battle of Mons, where he suffered a shattered cheekbone and concussion.

In a celebrated incident on 27 August, the injured Bridges used a tin whistle and toy drum purchased from a toy shop[12] to rally the men and led them to rejoin the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), commanded by Field Marshal Sir John French[4] In September he transferred to the 4th Hussars as a lieutenant colonel.

[13] In October, French flew Bridges to the besieged Belgian city of Antwerp to provide intelligence there for the British headquarters.

[4] He recovered quickly, however, and after a three-month stint as head of the trench warfare department of Winston Churchill's Ministry of Munitions, was sent back to the United States, specifically Washington, D.C., to coordinate the dispatch of American reinforcements to the Western Front.

Bridges was a conservative governor, defending capital punishment, supporting the Legislative Council, and denouncing "unemployables".

Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales and Major-General Tom Bridges, GOC of the 19th (Western) Division (in centre, facing camera), after inspection of the 8th (Service) Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment near Beaussart, 1 February 1917.
Major General John J. Pershing , the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), pictured here together with Major General Tom Bridges, inspecting a Guard of Honour on Pershing's arrival at Liverpool, June 1917.
Lieutenant-General Tom Bridges, head of all British war missions to the United States, pictured here at his headquarters in Washington, D.C. , 29 April 1918.
Governor Tom Bridges in 1927.
Memorial to Tom Bridges in St Nicholas-at-Wade , Kent.