Military Chat

Most Grateful Long time brickwall now solved. Will visit TNA in due time my readers ticket is out of date

B.Wishes to all for help. Bill Clague

The original document regarding his death is on FMP.

Buried at sea……..as per the ‘official’ news given to his widow and mentioned in the press article.

William
You have already requested this information in January 2022 in the WDYTYA magazine.

What research have you conducted in light of the responses given to you at that time??

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/who-do-you-think-you-are-magazine/20220111/283820036908452?srsltid=AfmBOorMWDniNwFYTEQstGthUU7h5CmOdT89JcdaRtfjst-H3n3T5TSK

I accept that one newspaper article claiming he was buried at sea made not be specific enough information but what I have posted regarding the National Archives you most likely already knew.
It would have been useful if you had mentioned this in light of the WDYTYA advice.

If you happen to know the name of the ship he sailing on before he was transferred to the Godaveri you may find this page useful to you:

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/merchant-shipping-movement-cards-1939-1945/

From the National Archives
***If you register and sign in to the National Archives website you can see this record and download it for free**


Medal listing of Bridgeman, Cornelius Discharge number: R142852
Reference: BT 395/1/10281
Description: Medal listing of Bridgeman, Cornelius
Discharge number: R142852
Date of Birth: 25 February 1918
Date: [1946-2002]
Held by: The National Archives, Kew

From The National Archives Website

UK Merchant Seaman Deaths, 1939-1953
Search and download Registry General of Shipping and Seamen CR 288 forms recording deaths of merchant seamen from Ancestry (charges apply). These consist of records of around 50,000 merchant seamen who lost their lives during and just after the Second World War. The original records are at the National Maritime Museum.

This record is what prompted my above record search on Ancestry

All UK, Merchant Seamen Deaths, 1939 -1953 results for Cornelius Bridgeman Ancestry

No exact match found

That makes absolute sense...................in the middle of a war

He left a widow and two small children

A Newspaper article on FindMyPast states he was buried at sea.

South Wales Evening Post
Wednesday October 6, 1943

Will post full article

Mrs Paulina Bridgeman of Emlyn-road Mayhill Swansea has received official news of the death at sea of her husband A-B Cornelius Bridgeman of the Merchant Navy. He was taken ill with Internal trouble transferred to one of HM ships where an operation was performed.
He died, however, and was buried at sea on September 25. He was 25 and had been in the Merchant Navy for 10 years. There are two children one aged 13 months, and a baby a month old.

I doubt that Gibraltar burial records would be online

I see that there was no record of when or where he was born..............

ADDED

Is this him?

1939 Register
21 Norfolk Street, Swansea, Swansea C.B., Glamorganshire, Wales
Wallis Bridgeman 19 Feb 1888 Male Steel Tube Worker Married 148 1
Margaret A Bridgeman 29 Nov 1888 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 148 2
Thomas J Bridgeman 10 Apr 1915 Male Labourer-Demolition Work Single 148 3
Cornelius Bridgeman 25 Feb 1917 Male Able Seaman Single 148 4
Joan Hughes (Bridgeman) 25 Jan 1920 Female Barmaid Single 148 5
Roger Bridgeman 07 Sep 1923 Male Brewery Van Boy Single 148 6
George Bridgeman ? ? 1924 Male Apprentice Tinsmith Single 148 7
Olga Shail (Bridgeman) 30 Nov 1927 Female At School Single 148 8
The record for this person is officially closed.
The record for this person is officially closed.
David J Thomas 26 Jun 1915 Male Brewery Store Man Married 148 11
Margaret Thomas 30 Oct 1913 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 148 12

If his body was repatriated, he may have been interred in S Wales. Have you checked?

Merchant Navy seaman Died on operating table of natural causes on HMIS Godaveri in 1943, reported to Shipping Master Gibraltar but no trace of Burial.