ADMIRAL SIR CYPRIAN BRIDGE (1839-1924),

co-founded the NRS with Sir John Knox Laughton, was born in Newfoundland, son of the chaplain to its governor, Admiral Sir Thomas John Cochrane.  Bridge entered the Royal Navy in 1853.  He saw service in many parts of the globe, notably the antipodes.  In 1889 he became director of the Admiralty’s newly instituted naval intelligence department.  Reaching flag-rank in 1892, he chaired, the following June, the preliminary meeting which resulted in the foundation of the NRS.  Leaving his Admiralty post in 1894, he was later that year appointed naval C-in-C of the Australian squadron, serving as such until 1898.  In that year he was promoted vice-admiral, and in 1899 he was knighted  (KCB). In 1901 he went to China as C-in-C of the squadron, playing a seminal role in the negotiations that led to the Anglo-Japanese Treaty (1902).  He became full admiral and KCB in 1904, the year he relinquished the command and retired from active service.  He served as an assessor on the International Commission of Inquiry into the 1904 Dogger Bank incident, and during the First World War as a member of the Mesopotamia Commission of Inquiry appointed in August 1916.  He held definite views on naval policy, opposing construction of HMS Dreadnought as contrary to British interests, and publishing widely on naval topics.  His books included a memoir, Some Recollections (1918).

More information about Sir Cyprian’s life and career, and a list of further reading, can be found in Sir Geoffrey Callender’s entry on him (revised by James Goldrick) in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB).