LATE MRS C. J. BRIDGE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17749, 28 April 1923, Page 2

LATE MRS C. J. BRIDGE.

The late Mrs C. J. Bridge, who died on Saturday last in Christehurch, was oorn in Worcestershire, England, in 1827, and lived in the reigns of five ifingiish Sovereigns. George IV. was then King; the little Princess Victoria of Kent, - was" but eight years old, and all unwitting of her exalted destiny. Catholic Emancipation and the Reform liill were but pious aspirations; the j>uke of Wellington was an active figure in the jvnguom. The second French Revolution, the Crimean \Var, i,ne Indian Mutiny, tne Coup d'Ejat, ,vere all to come, whn'e the gieat merman Empire was as yet undreamt of. j. he great steel ships, the palatial mam-moth-gsteamers, the electric telegraphs, the Telephone, wiieiess, eiectric lighting, the bicycle, the motorjar, all these were unthinkable to that generation; yet the little girl of io-< aved to see them as commonplaces of uaily existence. Mrs Bridge's father, Sir Charles Hastings, M.D.. D.C.L., Oxon., was a distinguished physician of Worcester, and ivisitors to that "ever faithful city" will find many public memorials to him. He was the founder of the British Medical Association, of the Hastings .vluseum, also of several county societies related to the culture of the community. He received the honour of knighthood from Queen Victoria, and was publicly honoured by Worcester with a magnificent presentation of plate of the intrinsic weight of one thousand ounoes of silver. Two of his brothers became admirals, one serving as -lieutenant in the vessel which conveyed Napoleon Bonaparte to Elba after The Hundred Days. He was afterwards stationed at Smyrna, which is interesting to recall ajt the time, and was spending holiday leave in Paris at the time of the Coup d'Etat. The other naval brother served with the Sailor Prince, the Duke of York, who on becoming William IV., knighted his old friend, continuing the friendship, and admitting him to constant familiar intercourse at Court, where Sir Thomas frequently dined. A third brother received the family living, and becnme a canon of Worcester Cathedral and Rural Dean of the diocese. A distinguished near kinship was that of Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of India. Elizabeth Frances Hastings was married in February, 1854. to Charles J. Bridge, a Canterbury pilgrim, who arrived in the Randolph on December 16th, 1850. He returned to England kite in 1853 to claim his bride, and bring her out to his property at Opawa, then known as Opawha Farm. t Their friends and neighbours at that time comprised, among others, the families of Sir Michael le Fleming, Archdeacon Wilson, • the Kents, all well known in early Canterbury history. On his return in 1854, Mr Bridge, in partnership with Mr Baines, took up a large country station, which stretched from the Rakaia river to the sea, part of whaj; was known later as Ellesmere. In 1862 he removed his family to the property known as Homebrook, laid out and named the town of Southbridge, and there he died in 1876 as the result of an accident. His widow survived him for over forty-six years.

Mrs Bridge visited England three times, and until recently took a vital interest in all public affairs. She was a devoted member of the Anglican Church, of which she was a liberal supporter, also contributing largely to all movements for the benefit of the community. While residing at Southbridge she was .active in all parochial matters, conducting a class at the Sunday school and playing the harmonium at all senvices. The family as a whole were very specially identified with this church, to which, on its erection and that of the vicarage, Mr Bridge had presented twenty acres of land. A few years after her husband's death Mrs Bridge removed to Christchurch, I where she resided until her own decease. When the boarding-out system was first instituted for orphans here she was a prime mover in the matter, and for many years served on the Visiting Committee of the Female Refuge in Cashel street, where her presence and counsel were greatly appreciated. Lonsesvitv is hereditary in her family, two of her near ancestors attaining centenarian rank. Her own life, protracted into extreme old age, ended on April 21st, in her 96th year. She was laid to rest on April 24th, by the side of her husband and other predeceased members of the family in "the pretty churchvard of St. James's, Southbridee. Many members of her family and old friends were present, some of whom had come very lons distances to pay respeect to the passing of a loved relative and friend on the breaking of yet another link with the pioneering days of Canterbury's historic past.