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Thomas Henry BRIDGES (1836–1849)
St Michael section: Row 4, Grave C46

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Thomas Henry Bridges, the only son of Thomas Edward Bridges, President of Corpus, was buried in the St Michael’s section of St Sepulchre’s Cemetery because it was his mother’s parish

Thomas Henry Bridges was born in 1836. He was the son of the Revd Dr Thomas Edward Bridges and his second wife Henrietta Bourne.

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Thomas’s father, the Revd Dr Thomas Edward Bridges, and his first wife

Thomas Edward Bridges was born at St Nicholas at Wade in the Isle of Thanet in Kent in October 1782, the son of Thomas Bridges and Ann Jacob. He was matriculated at the University of Oxford from University College on 26 July 1798 when he was only 15, and obtained his B.A. from Corpus Christi College in 1802. He became a Fellow of Corpus on 31 January 1806, and on 13 February 1823 was unanimously elected President of the college. As a head of a college he was now allowed to marry, and on 24 August 1824 he promptly married Jemima Sarah Welch at St John the Baptist Church, Tunstall, Lancashire.They had just one child:

• Jemima Ann Amy Bridges (born at Corpus Christi College on 16 March 1831 and baptised at the University Church of St Mary-the-Virgin on 6 April).

His first wife Jemima Sarah Bridges died of a fever on 7 December 1831 when their baby daughter was less than nine months old. She was buried privately in the college antechapel, and her grave is marked by a small ledger stone with the inscription “JSB MDCCCXXXI”.

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Thomas’s mother Henrietta Bourne

Henrietta Bourne was born in St Michael’s parish, Oxford (probably in Cornmarket) on 13 October 1807, the daughter of Dr Robert Bourne and Mary Burr.

Her father was said to be the best Oxford physician and the last man in Oxford to wear his hair in the old-fashioned style of a pigtail. Born in Shrawley, Worcestershire on 18 August 1761, he was elected a scholar at Worcester College, Oxford on 1 July 1777. After taking his MA in 1784 he was elected a Fellow of that college. He then trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, and became BM in 1786. In 1787 he was awarded his D.M. and was appointed honorary Physician to the Radcliffe Infirmary. He initially practised in All Saints’ parish, but had moved to St Michael’s parish by 1795.

On 16 November 1795 at Spelsbury Church, Robert Bourne married Mary Burr, and their marriage was announced thus in Jackson’s Oxford Journal:

On Monday last was married, at Spelsbury in this County, Dr. Bourne, Physician of this Place, to Miss Burr, Daughter of Mr. Burr of Ditchley.

They had the following children:

• Mary Bourne (born in Oxford on 5 August 1796 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on the same day: her birth announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal reveals that she was one of twins, but the other was stillborn)
• Robert Burr Bourne (born in Oxford on 17 March 1798 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 20 March)
• Jane Bourne (born in Oxford on 30 December 1802 and baptised at St Michael’s Church the same day);
  died aged two week and buried in the chancel on 15 January 1803
• Digby Michael Bourne (born in Oxford on 23 November 1805 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 30 November)
• Henrietta Bourne (born in Oxford on 13 October 1807 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 27 October)
• Charlotte Bourne (born in Oxford on 24 November 1810 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 19 December);
  died aged six months and buried in the chancel on 29 May 1811).

Henrietta’s mother Mary Bourne died at the age of 53 in 1818 and was buried at Spelsbury on 19 November.

On 17 August 1826 Robert Bourne married his second wife Mrs Mary Griffith, the widow of the former Master of University College.

Robert Bourne died on 23 December 1829.

See Wikipedia or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for more information about Dr Robert Bourne.

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On 27 August 1835 at St Michael’s Church, Thomas Edward Bridges married Henrietta Bourne, and the announcement of the marriage in the Jackson’s Oxford Journal read:

On Thursday last was married, at St. Michael’s Church, by Godfrey Faussett, D.D. Margaret Professor of Divinity, Thomas Edward Bridges, D.D. President of Corpus Christi college, to Henrietta, sole surviving daughter of the late Robert Bourne, M.D.

Thomas Edward Bridges and his second wife Henrietta had just one child:

• Thomas Henry Bridges (born in Oxford, probably at Corpus Christi College, in 1836 and baptised at St John the Baptist Church (in which parish the college was situated, now Merton College chapel) on 27 September “by Th. Bridges, off.m.ph.v [officiating minister pro hac vice].”

At the time of the 1841 census Thomas Henry Bridges (4) was living in the President’s Lodgings at Corpus Christi College with his parents and his stepsister Jemima (10), plus five servants.

Thomas’s father Thomas Edward Bridges died at Ilfracombe on 3 September 1843, and was buried in Corpus Christi College chapel on 9 September. A monument to his memory there describes him as a vir singulari simplicitate et benevolentia. His obituary notice in the Gentleman’s Magazine read:

Sept. 3, 1843. At Ilfracombe, Devonshire, aged 62 [actually 60], the Rev. Thomas Edward Bridges, D.D., President of C.C.C., Oxford. He took the Degree of M.A. in 1806, and was elected President in February 1823. Dr. Bridges was greatly esteemed for his amiable disposition and suavity of manners; as he was of rather retired habits, he held no other office in the University, and declined being nominated Vice-Chancellor on the last vacancy, though he was next in rotation for that dignity.

Thomas Henry Bridges, his only son, died less than six years later:

† Thomas Henry Bridges died in St Michael’s parish at the age of 12 on 5 May 1849 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 10 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Michael’s Church).

His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read simply: “On the 5th inst. aged 12 years, Thomas Henry Bridges, only son of the late President of Corpus Christi College.”

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Thomas Henry Bridges’s mother and stepsister

• Thomas’s mother Mrs Henrietta Bridges, née Bourne, did not bring up her stepdaughter, and spent the rest of her life alone. In 1851 she was paying a visit to the Oldrine family in Hastings, and in 1861 was living at 29 Grand Parade there with one servant. At the time of the 1871, 1881, and 1891 censuses she was living at St Mary-in-the-Castle, Sussex. She died at 129 Marina Street, St Leonard’s-on-Sea, at the age of 90 on 8 May 1898, and her effects came to £40,700 5s. 10d.
• Thomas’s stepsister Jemima Ann Amy Bridges was made a Ward in Chancery, and at the time of the 1851 census, when she was 20, she was living at Clifton, Bristol with her aunt Miss Caroline Anne Bridges (56). She married the clergyman Godfrey Faussett in London in 1853 (in the St George’s Hanover Square district, reg. second quarter), and they had seven children: Marian (born 1854), Ann (born 1855), Edith (born 1856), Lilian (born 1859), Bertha (born 1861), Edward (born 1864), and Amy (born 1865). The children later appear to have adopted the surname Godfrey-Faussett. They were living in the Parsonage at Edgeworth in Gloucestershire in 1861. In 1871 Jemima was staying at Bournemouth with two of her children, and in 1881 she was living with her husband in Cheltenham. By 1891 she was a widow, living in the Iffley Road, Oxford with five of her children, plus a cook and housemaid; and in 1901 she was lodging on her own in Bath. She died at 27 Lansdowne Road, Leamington on 23 July 1903, and her effects came to £10,109 16s. 8d.