Frederick Bridge

BRIDGE, Sir John Frederick. b. Oldbury, Worcestershire, 5 December 1844; d. London, 18 March 1924. Though born in Worcestershire, his formative years were spent in Rochester where, until 1859, he was a chorister in the cathedral together with his lay-clerk father and his younger brother, Joseph Cox Bridge (who later became organist at Chester Cathedral). Articled to J. L. Hopkins at Rochester, he later accepted the posts of organist at Shorne Parish Church (1861) and Strood Parish Church (1862), both close to Rochester. In 1865 he became organist at Holy Trinity Church, Windsor, and studied with John Goss* and George Job Elvey*. In 1867 he took the FRCO, though by all accounts he was an...