Brigadier-General Francis Charles Bridgeman JP (4 July 1846 – 14 September 1917), styled The Honourable from 1865, was a British Army officer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1895.
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Background and education
Bridgeman was the second son of Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford. His mother was Hon. Selina Louisa Forester, the daughter of Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester. Bridgeman was educated in Harrow School and joined afterwards the British Army.
Career
In 1865, he purchased a commission into the Scots Fusilier Guards as an ensign and lieutenant and four years later became a lieutenant and captain.
Bridgeman was nominated an aide-de-camp to Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1875, a position he held until the following year. He was promoted to captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1877. A year later, Bridgeman accompanied a special mission sent to Spain and attended the marriage of King Alfonso XII, where he was invested a knight of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. In 1883 Bridgeman was advanced to major.