Geoffrey Bridgeman

Brigadier The Honourable Geoffrey John Orlando Bridgeman MC (3 July 1898 – 15 October 1974), styled The Honourable from 1929, was a British soldier and ophthalmologist.

Born at Harley Street in London, Bridgeman was the second son of William Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman. His mother Caroline was the daughter of Cecil Thomas Parker, younger son Thomas Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield. Bridgeman's younger brother Maurice was a businessman and civil servant. He was educated in Eton College and went then to Trinity College, Cambridge. From 1917 he fought in the First World War, being commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery. In 1918 he was decorated with the Military Cross and after the end of the war retired as lieutenant. He resumed his studies in Cambridge and after winning a classical exhibition, Bridgeman read natural sciences and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1920. Six years later at St George's Hospital he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and in 1928 he received further a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.

Bridgeman worked first as chief clinical assistant at Moorfields Eye Hospital and then as ophthalmic surgeon at East Ham Memorial Hospital. Subsequently he returned to St George's and became employed at the Western Ophthalmic Hospital. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and gained the rank of brigadier. Bridgeman was attached to the Middle East and came afterwards to India. He was an honorary consultant ophthalmologist at the India and Burma Office and was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1933. Bridgeman held membership of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom and of the British Medical Association.