Sir George Tom Molesworth ?Tom? Bridges KCB KCMG DSO (Britis...

Estimate

£300 - £400

Sir George Tom Molesworth ?Tom? Bridges KCB KCMG DSO (British 1871?1939) Plantation road with figure; & Waterfront cafe two, both signed 'T.Bridges' (lower left) both oil on board one 29 x 38 cm, framed and glazed 44 x 55 cm, the other 28 x 38.5 cm, framed 39.5 x 49.5 cm Provenance: By descent within the family of Lieutenant-General Sir George Tom Molesworth ?Tom? Bridges KCB KCMG DSO (1871?1939), Governor of South Australia (1922?27), soldier, writer and painter. Footnote: Sir Tom Bridges was a career British officer commissioned from Woolwich into the Royal Artillery in 1892. He served in India and Africa, fought in the South African War (where he was twice mentioned in despatches), and was severely wounded. In the First World War he became briefly famous during the retreat from Mons: on 27 August 1914 at St-Quentin, whilst injured, he rallied exhausted infantry with a toy drum and tin whistle leading them back to the British Expeditionary Force commanded by Field Marshall Sir John French. He later commanded the 19th (Western) Division on the Somme (1916) and at Ypres/Passchendaele, where a September 1917 wound led to the amputation of a leg. He received the DSO, was created KCB and KCMG, and separately from his Boer War notices, was also mentioned in despatches for WWI service. After missions in the Balkans and Middle East, Bridges was appointed Governor of South Australia (1922?27). He painted seriously, studying at the Slade and exhibiting in Adelaide and London. Bridges cultivated an eccentric public image. During the war he kept a pet lion, ?Poilu,? which was often found wandering the trenches; press reports in 1917 wrote that he requested his amputated leg to supplement his pets poor war diet. He died at Brighton on 26 November 1939, aged 68.