Thomas Bridges (Anglican missionary)
| Thomas Bridges | |
|---|---|
Thomas Bridges
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| Born | ca. 1842 Unknown |
| Died |
July 15, 1898 (aged 56) Buenos Aires |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Anglican Missionary |
| Known for | Establishing a mission in Tierra del Fuego |
Thomas Bridges (ca. 1842–1898) was an Anglican missionary and linguist, the first to set up a successful mission to the indigenous peoples in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Adopted and raised in England by George Pakenham Despard, he accompanied his father to Argentina with the Patagonian Missionary Society. After an attack by indigenous people, in 1869 Despard left the mission at Keppel Island to return with his family to England. At the age of 17, Bridges stayed with the mission as its new superintendent. In the late 1860s, he worked to set up a mission at what is now the town of Ushuaia.
Ordained and married during a trip to Great Britain in 1868-1869, Bridges returned to the Falkland Islands with his wife. They settled at the mission at Ushaia, where four of their six children were born. He continued to work with the Selk'nam (Ona) and Yaghan peoples for nearly 20 more years. On Bridges' retirement from missionary service in 1886, the Argentine government gave him a large grant of land. He became a sheep and cattle rancher.
As a young man, Bridges had learned the indigenous language of Yamana and closely studied the culture over his lifetime. Over more than a decade, he compiled a grammar and dictionary in Yamana-English of more than 30,000 words. His son Lucas Bridges donated the work to the British Library of London in 1930. Part of the dictionary was published in 1933, then consisting only of the Yamana-English portion. That was edited and published commercially in 1987, since reprinted in 2011. An English-Yamana manuscript, dated 1865, was discovered in the British Library by Alfredo Prieto. The two portions have been published together online at the Patagonian Bookshelf website to provide free access.
Thomas was born in England in 1842. According to local legend, he was later found abandoned on a bridge in Bristol, by George Despard, the chaplain of the Clifton Union. Despard adopted Bridges and another boy, educating them in a private school that he ran. Later, upon being told of the adoption, Thomas "chose for himself the surname Bridges in honor of the meeting that had saved his life."
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