Born the son of Reverend William Bridgeman-Simpson and Lady Frances Laura Wentworth FitzWilliam (herself daughter of the
5th Earl Fitzwilliam), as Francis Simpson he joined the
Royal Navy as a
cadet in the training ship in 1862. He was posted to the
sloop on the
Australia Station in 1868 and, having been promoted to
sub-lieutenant in 1869 and to
lieutenant on 8 April 1873, he specialised in gunnery. he joined the battleship on the
Pacific Station in 1885 and then went to the gunnery training ship in 1888. and that year requested he be referred to as Bridgeman-Simpson. He became Captain of the battleship and
Flag Captain of the
Mediterranean Fleet in October 1893. Having shortened his name to Bridgeman in 1896, he became Flag Captain at
Portsmouth Command in September 1897. he was in June 1902 posted to for service during the
1902 Coronation Fleet review, but the appointment was cancelled when the coronation was postponed. He was given command of the
armoured cruiser on its first commission in January 1903, and was appointed a Member of the 4th Class of the
Royal Victorian Order on 5 May 1903. Promoted to
rear admiral on 12 August 1903, he became Second-in-Command of the
Channel Fleet in June 1904, Second-in-Command of the
Atlantic Fleet in December 1904 and Second-in-Command of the
Mediterranean Fleet in March 1906. and advanced to
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 27 February 1907, Bridgeman went on to be
Commander-in-Chief of the
Home Fleet in March 1907, hoisting his flag in the battleship and then in the battleship . and appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 26 June 1908, he became
Second Sea Lord in March 1909. he became
Commander-in-Chief of the
Home Fleet again in March 1911. and was advanced to
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 24 June 1911. Bridgeman became
First Sea Lord in November 1911, and allegedly "got the job by default. From a thin list, Bridgeman had one unusual quality in the pre-1914 navy: a willingness to delegate". In the opinion of historian
Hew Strachan: "The combination of frequent change and weak appointees (
Wilson, Bridgeman and
Battenberg) ensured that the professional leadership of the Royal Navy lost its direction in the four years preceding the war." Indeed, it was Bridgeman's efforts to blockade some of Churchill's more controversial schemes that led to his dismissal, as he himself recognized in a letter to
Francis Hopwood: "I was forced out
without warning, but it was not because I was too weak, but because I was too strong!" Following his resignation Bridgeman was advanced to
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 10 December 1912. In retirement he lived at
Copgrove Hall near
Burton Leonard in
North Yorkshire until his death at
Nassau in
The Bahamas on 17 February 1929. ==Family==