HUGH DECIMUS BRIDGE
Regimental No. 24332
2nd September 1890 - 25 November 1917
Born on 2nd September 1890, Hugh was the tenth and last son of Herbert and Lenore BRIDGE. He was educated at Roseneath School and The Terrace School, and may have also attended Wellington College for his secondary schooling. Like his brothers, he was a keen and energetic sportsman, enjoying football and athletics, as well as rowing with the Star Boating Club. He shared his father’s love of being involved in amateur opera productions. Prior to the start of WW1 he served in the Army Reserve in the Field Artillery.
Hugh married Joyce Miriam PANCHAUD-JACKSON on the 9th of April 1914, and two years later, on 21 May 1916, they had a daughter, Audrey Leonore. The family lived at 282 Queen’s Drive, Lyall Bay. Hugh was employed as a clerk by G.W. Guthrie, whose offices were in Wakefield Street.
Just one month before his daughter was born Hugh enlisted, his enlistment date being 4th April 1916. During training he was promoted to Sergeant, in June, and by mid-September he had been promoted again, to Sergeant Major. After training for several more months he embarked with the 11th Reinforcements in F Company of the 2nd Battalion, on 25 September 1916. He sailed on the Devon, via the Cape of Good Hope, to Devonport on the coast of the English Channel. He was never to see his wife and infant daughter again.
Hugh was sent to Sling and Codford Camps in Wiltshire, where he will have received further training. He also spent time being treated in the venereal disease section at Codford until finally proceeding “overseas” to France in May 1917, undertaking yet more training at Etaples, one of the main staging areas for deploying replacement troops for the front line. It may reasonably be assumed that he participated in the Battle for Messines which commenced on 7th June, but appears to have escaped unscathed, as there is no record of him receiving treatment for wounds or illness.
The next few months on the Western Front were spent in appalling conditions particularly as it started raining unseasonably early, in July, and it didn’t stop raining for months. Hugh’s military personnel record for the remaining few months of his life don’t reveal his specific movements or engagements, but he was with the NZ Rifle Brigade in and around the Polygon Wood, until finally, on 25 November 1917, he was killed in action, "near Reutel" (which is near Polygon Wood). He was still only 27.
Hugh was buried in BUTTES NEW BRITISH CEMETERY Polygon Wood. "This burial ground was made after the Armistice when a large number of graves (almost all of 1917, but in a few instances of 1914, 1916 and 1918) were brought in from the battlefields of Zonnebeke. There are now 2,108 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Buttes New British Cemetery. 1,677 of the burials are unidentified".
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/480129/bridge,-hugh-decimus/
Of the 16 men buried in the same row as Hugh the identities of 13 are unknown, their nationality/regiment identifed by their clothing and/or artefact only.
His military personnel file notes in late 1921/1922 that Hugh’s war service medals and scroll were to be sent to his wife Miriam. However Miriam had died in February 1921. According to family information, Miriam was a dancer with J C Williamson[1] and in 1921 she fell from a revolving stage and hurt her knee. She then developed septicemia, but as a Christian Scientist she refused medical intervention and died. Her daughter Audrey, who was by then 5 years old, was brought up by her paternal grandparents, whom she knew as Granny and Gaffer.
Hugh's medals were therefore sent to his brother, Sergeant Lionel Septimus Bridge at 219 Sutherland Road Lyall Bay. Lionel had survived his war service and also had a daughter.
Miriam was buried in a plot purchased by her father in law, adjacent to the one he had purchased in Karori Cemetery in 1909 when Hugh's oldest brother Herbert had died. A plaque commemorating Hugh was installed on Miriam's grave, along with one for Miriam.
Hugh’s name appears along with his brother Lance on the Roseneath Memorial, the commemorative board inside St Barnabas Anglican church adjacent to the Roseneath War Memorial, and on a memorial in St Nicholas’ Church, Nantwich, Essex. Their brother, Cyprian, also served and survived.
[1] J C Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd.
Researched and written by Barbara Mulligan, with additional family information supplied by members of the Smythe family, grandchildren of Hugh and Joyce Bridge.
Regimental No. 24332
2nd September 1890 - 25 November 1917
Born on 2nd September 1890, Hugh was the tenth and last son of Herbert and Lenore BRIDGE. He was educated at Roseneath School and The Terrace School, and may have also attended Wellington College for his secondary schooling. Like his brothers, he was a keen and energetic sportsman, enjoying football and athletics, as well as rowing with the Star Boating Club. He shared his father’s love of being involved in amateur opera productions. Prior to the start of WW1 he served in the Army Reserve in the Field Artillery.
Hugh married Joyce Miriam PANCHAUD-JACKSON on the 9th of April 1914, and two years later, on 21 May 1916, they had a daughter, Audrey Leonore. The family lived at 282 Queen’s Drive, Lyall Bay. Hugh was employed as a clerk by G.W. Guthrie, whose offices were in Wakefield Street.
Just one month before his daughter was born Hugh enlisted, his enlistment date being 4th April 1916. During training he was promoted to Sergeant, in June, and by mid-September he had been promoted again, to Sergeant Major. After training for several more months he embarked with the 11th Reinforcements in F Company of the 2nd Battalion, on 25 September 1916. He sailed on the Devon, via the Cape of Good Hope, to Devonport on the coast of the English Channel. He was never to see his wife and infant daughter again.
Hugh was sent to Sling and Codford Camps in Wiltshire, where he will have received further training. He also spent time being treated in the venereal disease section at Codford until finally proceeding “overseas” to France in May 1917, undertaking yet more training at Etaples, one of the main staging areas for deploying replacement troops for the front line. It may reasonably be assumed that he participated in the Battle for Messines which commenced on 7th June, but appears to have escaped unscathed, as there is no record of him receiving treatment for wounds or illness.
The next few months on the Western Front were spent in appalling conditions particularly as it started raining unseasonably early, in July, and it didn’t stop raining for months. Hugh’s military personnel record for the remaining few months of his life don’t reveal his specific movements or engagements, but he was with the NZ Rifle Brigade in and around the Polygon Wood, until finally, on 25 November 1917, he was killed in action, "near Reutel" (which is near Polygon Wood). He was still only 27.
Hugh was buried in BUTTES NEW BRITISH CEMETERY Polygon Wood. "This burial ground was made after the Armistice when a large number of graves (almost all of 1917, but in a few instances of 1914, 1916 and 1918) were brought in from the battlefields of Zonnebeke. There are now 2,108 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Buttes New British Cemetery. 1,677 of the burials are unidentified".
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/480129/bridge,-hugh-decimus/
Of the 16 men buried in the same row as Hugh the identities of 13 are unknown, their nationality/regiment identifed by their clothing and/or artefact only.
His military personnel file notes in late 1921/1922 that Hugh’s war service medals and scroll were to be sent to his wife Miriam. However Miriam had died in February 1921. According to family information, Miriam was a dancer with J C Williamson[1] and in 1921 she fell from a revolving stage and hurt her knee. She then developed septicemia, but as a Christian Scientist she refused medical intervention and died. Her daughter Audrey, who was by then 5 years old, was brought up by her paternal grandparents, whom she knew as Granny and Gaffer.
Hugh's medals were therefore sent to his brother, Sergeant Lionel Septimus Bridge at 219 Sutherland Road Lyall Bay. Lionel had survived his war service and also had a daughter.
Miriam was buried in a plot purchased by her father in law, adjacent to the one he had purchased in Karori Cemetery in 1909 when Hugh's oldest brother Herbert had died. A plaque commemorating Hugh was installed on Miriam's grave, along with one for Miriam.
Hugh’s name appears along with his brother Lance on the Roseneath Memorial, the commemorative board inside St Barnabas Anglican church adjacent to the Roseneath War Memorial, and on a memorial in St Nicholas’ Church, Nantwich, Essex. Their brother, Cyprian, also served and survived.
[1] J C Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd.
Researched and written by Barbara Mulligan, with additional family information supplied by members of the Smythe family, grandchildren of Hugh and Joyce Bridge.