Sir Phillip Rodney Bridges CMG QC (9 July 1922 – 26 December 2007) was a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

, who latterly served as

Chief Justice of the Gambia The Chief Justice of the Gambia is the head of the Gambian judiciary and is responsible for the administration and supervision of the courts. The Chief Justice is also the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the Gambia. Judges from other Common ...

from 1968 to 1983.

Early life

Bridges was born on 9 July 1922 near

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

, the son of Sir Ernest Bridges, a commodore of

Royal Mail Lines The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by a Scot, James MacQueen. The line's motto was ''Per Mare Ubique'' (everywhere by sea). After a troubled start, it became the largest shipping group ...

. He was educated at

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...

Military service

Bridges was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

after he left school. He was attached to the

Royal West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition ...

(RWAFF) and served with them in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. He fought in the Arakan Campaign, where he was involved in a five-month journey that involved crossing ten rivers. According to ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', he recalled one occasion when the man standing next to him was killed, and another where he escaped an ambush only to encounter the enemy again running in the opposite direction. He was demobilised in 1946.

Legal career

After his military service, Bridges qualified as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In 1954, he was posted to the

Gambia Colony and Protectorate The Gambia Colony and Protectorate was the British colonial administration of the Gambia from 1821 to 1965, part of the British Empire in the New Imperialism era. The colony was the immediate area surrounding Bathurst (now Banjul), and the pro ...

as a lands officer. He worked as Registrar General and Assistant Attorney General before becoming Solicitor General in 1963 and

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

in 1964. He helped draft the Gambian constitution prior to independence.

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

became independent in 1965, but Bridges remained in his post until 1968. This was unusual for post-independence African countries and he was the only European in the Gambian cabinet after independence. Bridges was appointed as

in 1968 and continued in this role until 1983. He earned a reputation for "fairness, tolerance, and above all, kindness." He learned the

Wolof Wolof or Wollof may refer to: * Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania * Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania * The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mal ...

language while in the country. At one point, as Chief Justice, he reportedly earned the anger of

Dawda Jawara Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (16 May 1924 – 27 August 2019) was a Gambian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970, and then as the first President of the Gambia from 1970 to 1994. Jawara was born in Barajally, MacCarthy Island ...

President of the Gambia The president of the Republic of The Gambia is the head of state and head of government of the Gambia. The president leads the executive branch of the government of the Gambia and is the commander-in-chief of the Gambia Armed Forces. The post w ...

, for recalling

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...

's warning before being burned at the stake in 1555: "Corruption bringeth rebellion." He was described as "an anomaly of Gambian tolerance" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 1977. Bridges was made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1964, was appointed CMG in 1967, and was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed in 1973. He was also made an Honorary Commander of the National Order of The Republic of The Gambia (CRG) by Dawda Jawara.

Retirement and death

He retired to England in 1983 and became the representative of The Gambia Legion in the UK and an honorary legal advisor to the British Ex-Commonwealth Services League. He contributed a chapter to ''The Gambia's Studies in Politics and Society'', published in 1991. He died in December 2007 in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. Writing in 2012,

Hassan Bubacar Jallow Hassan Bubacar Jallow (born 14 August 1951) is a Gambian judge who has served as Chief Justice of the Gambia since February 2017. He was the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) from 2003 to 2016, and Prosecutor of ...

said that Bridges' "sense of justice and fair play, his personal integrity and deep dedication to the Gambian people were never at any time in question during his long career."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Phillip 1922 births 2007 deaths Military personnel from Bedford People educated at Bedford School Gambia Colony and Protectorate judges English barristers Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods 20th-century King's Counsel Colonial Legal Service officers British judges on the courts of the Gambia Royal Artillery officers Royal West African Frontier Force officers British Army personnel of World War II Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Chief justices of the Gambia Gambia Colony and Protectorate people