Rushden Family of Soldiers - One at the Front - Pleased with His Brother's Enlistment

Mr and Mrs F Bridgement, of Rushden, have two sons serving in His Majesty's forces. Ernest, who is in the Cameronians, is at the front, and Percy, who has enlisted in Kitchener's Army, is at present stationed at Colchester. In a letter dated Sept. 21st, written to his mother, Ernest expressed pleasure at his brother's enlistment and asked for a shirt, a warm woollen scarf, and some cigarettes as it was impossible to obtain them where he was. These have been sent to him.

Mrs Bridgement's brother Sergt H Bryant, of the 2nd Battalion Northants Regiment, is also with the British Expeditionary Force.

Mrs Bridgment [sic] informs us that she sends a "Rushden Echo" to Percy each week.

Rushden Soldier Family - Father and Three Sons Serving with the Colours

Pte E Bridgement (Rushden), of the Scottish Rifles, son of Pte and Mrs F Bridgement, of 101, Glassbrook-road, Rushden, has been home on ten days' leave after having been at the front since the commencement of the war. He has been once wounded in the right arm and was discharged from the hospital at Rouen on October 11th.

His eldest brother, Pte Fred Bridgement, of the 1st Northants, was admitted into the same hospital two days later with a fractured hip and broken leg. For some time it was feared he would lose his leg, but we are pleased to report that he is now progressing favourably, and it is hoped that he will be in an English hospital by Christmas.

Pte and Mrs F Bridgement have one other son serving with the forces, viz., Pte Percy Bridgement, of the 6th Northants, and he also is in France.

The father, Pte F Bridgement, of the 3rd Northants, is stationed at Strood, and is in the Military Police.

It will thus be seen that all the family are serving with the colours, and Mrs Bridgement has three brothers, Ptes C Bryant, F Bryant, and H Bryant, also on active service. Another of her brothers, Company Sergt-Major H Bryant, was killed in action on January 16th.

Rushden's Casualty List

Particularly sad is the reported death of Pte Fred Bridgment, aged 46, husband of Mrs Bridgment, of 101, Glassbrook-road, Rushden. The news came in a letter from the soldier's platoon officer. The letter is dated November 10th, and it is believed that that was the day - but 24 hours before the Armistice - on which Pte Bridgment was killed. He enlisted in April 1915, as a volunteer, giving a much lower age than his actually was. After some time in the Northants Regiment he was transferred to the Iniskilling Fusiliers. He served eleven months in France, was invalided home with trench fever, sent to Egypt and Salonika for eight months, and then back to France. He had been fortunate enough to escape wounds during all that time. His son, Sergt E Bridgment, wrote home recently to say he hoped to go and see his father in the near future. It is not known yet whether Sergt Bridgment was in time to see his father. Another son, Pte E Bridgment, was at home on sick leave on Monday, as a result of injures he received in France twelve months ago. A third son [Fred] has been discharged from the Army. Two of Mrs Bridgment's brothers are in France, and one, a Sergt Major, has been killed. The late of Pte Bridgment worked at Messrs. John Cave and Sons before the war.

Chums in Death - Rushden Pigeon Flyer Succumbs in Hospital

Pte Charles Frederick [an error] Clark, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, husband of Mrs Clark, of 104, Newton-road, Rushden, and second son of Mrs Clark, of 21 Brookfield-road, Rushden, died on November 6th from pneumonia, following influenza while in hospital suffering from gas effects. A letter received from Pte Bridgement, of Glassbrook-road, Rushden, who sad to say, has since been killed, states that they were resting in a barn after being in the fighting, when a gas shell burst in the barn. Pte Clark was taken to hospital, he says, but he knew no further news about him. The late Pte Clark, who was 35 years of age, went out to Canada in 1911, and came home in 1916, enlisting in the Northants Regiment in July of that year. He was then transferred to the Inniskilling Fusiliers, with Pte Bridgement and they went to Salonika together, where they served nine months, then going to Egypt, where they stayed ten months. The two became firm friends, and always slept side by side. Deceased's brother, Pte Tom Clark, of the 7th Norfolks was killed in action on 29th April, 1917, and his brother-in-law, Pte George Willey, of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, was killed on February 25th 1917. Another brother, Pte George Clark, of the Labour Corps, has been serving in France two years, and another brother-in-law, Pte Ernest Tomlin, of the A.O.C. is also in France. The late Pte Chas. Clark, was well known throughout the county as a pigeon flyer; he and his brother, Mr Frank Clark, going under the name of Messrs. Clark Bros., winning considerable fame in that branch of sport. They won the Rushden Cup outright in 1906 and 1907.