Bridle was born in the village of
Cann in southern
England. He was part of the
British home child program and was sent to Canada in 1878 by National Children's Home (now known as
Action for Children). After working on
Ontario farms as a young boy, he went on to study at the
University of Toronto, where he graduated with a gold medal in
classics. He began his career in journalism with the
Edmonton Bulletin while living at
Edmonton, Alberta from 1900 to 1901. In 1908 he became the associate editor of the Canadian Courier, a national weekly magazine published in Toronto, continuing in this position until 1916 when he became editor. He later joined the staff of the
Toronto Daily Star in 1922, and served the newspaper for 30 years as music critic, book reviewer, and film and drama editor. In 1908, he became the founding member of
The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, which was noted as being a meeting place for the members of the
Group of Seven. Bridle was the author of several books, including
A Backwoods Christmas (Toronto 1910),
Sons of Canada (Toronto 1916),
Masques of Ottawa (Toronto 1921),
Hansen: A Novel of Canadianization (Toronto 1924), and
The Story of the Club (Toronto 1945). ==Works==