Mr. Bridgeman described himself as follows in the book Gilbert and Sullivan and Their Operas by François Cellier and Cunningham Bridgeman, published by Little Brown and Company in 1914.
" . . . although my name is not widely known in connection with the Savoy, I claim to be one of the oldest and closest surviving associates and campfollowers of the D'Oyly Carte Army Corps. I can boast of having witnessed the original productions of every Gilbert and Sullivan opera, including that of "Trial by Jury" at the Royalty Theatre in 1875, right down to what may be called the interregnum at the Savoy in 19O1, when Mr. Carte let the theatre to Mr. William Greet, who then continued the run of the Hood-Sullivan and German Opera, "The Emerald Isle."
"I have enjoyed the personal acquaintance of leading Savoyards with very few exceptions, and, further, I have served as acting-manager of a D'Oyly Carte Touring Company. Thus I am in an advantageous position to speak af the Savoy and Savoyards in general, and, perhaps, of Sir Arthur Sullivan in particular; for, as intimated in an early chapter of the present book, I knew the composer long before he met the future partner of his fame, Sir William Gilbert.
"Arthur Sullivan and I met first when he was a "child " of the Chapel Royal, and I only just escaping from the nursery in my parents' home in Devon, and it was there and then he composed his first song, and dedicated it to my mother. Such are the credentials I offer whilst venturing to continue these memoirs of the Savoy . . . "