BRIDGMAN, Henry

1831 - 1909

Henry Bridgman was baptised at St Peter’s church, Sudbury on 7 October 1831, son of John Bridgman (c1803-31 January 1880), a linen draper, and his wife Elizabeth née Smith (c1805-27 December 1868), who married at Sudbury on 26 October 1829. Henry was apprenticed to printer/bookseller George Williams Fulcher (1795-1855) at 17 Market Hill, Sudbury, with whom he worked closely on illustrating the latter’s annual Pocket Books. Following the death of the Fulcher's', father and son, their bookselling business on Market Hill was taken by Fulcher's brother-in-law, Henry Sparrow Pratt. In 1851, Bridgman was a 19-year-old draper’s assistant in the shop of Herbert Brooks, draper, and his family at Bank Street, Braintree, Essex. Henry married at St Nicholas Church, Harwich, Essex on 16 September 1856, Frances Jane Harding (1827-16 January 1903), daughter of James Harding of Sudbury, and in 1858 is listed under gentry living at 65 Market Hill, Sudbury. In 1861, a 29-year-old bank clerk at 3 Newton Road, Sudbury with his 33-year-old wife Frances and two young children, Graham 2 and newly born Mary Elizabeth, both born at Sudbury. By 1865 Bridgman had taken the bookselling shop of Henry Pratt, at Market Hill, Sudbury, when, as a printer, Pratt moved to Friars Street. In 1868, a bookseller & stationer at 17 Market Hill, Sudbury living at 2 Newton Road, as a bank clerk & bookseller with his seven children. About 1871, Bridgman took Utber William Goddard into the business at 17 Market Hill, trading as Bridgman & Goddard, booksellers & stationers but by 1879 the business was in the hands of Thomas Martin King when Bridgman resumed his career as a bank clerk. In 1881, Bridgman was a 49-year-old banker’s clerk, living at 6 Newton Road, Sudbury with his 53-year-old wife Frances and children, 22-year-old Graham (1860-1892), a banker’s clerk, Mary 20 and Frances Ethel (1862-1891) and scholars Constance 12 and Noel 10, all born at Sudbury. Henry was an amateur artist and a member of the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1890-1896 exhibiting five works including 'River Stour near Sudbury', 'View near Southwold' and 'St Olaves near Lowestoft' copies of his work are in Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury and an engraving of his work 'Bulmer' is in Fulcher's Pocket Book for 1883. Henry Bridgman died at Sudbury on 7 November 1909, aged 78. (Copsey - Suffolk Book Trades (2012))

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Works by This Artist