FORMER Bournemouth councillor, barrister and charity chairman Henry ‘Chris’ Bridger died peacefully at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital on Monday, October 21, aged 88.

Mr Bridger was elected to the borough council as a Conservative in the Southbourne ward – where he lived for many years – in a landslide victory in 1989, and served two terms.

During his time as a councillor in the early 1990s he was appointed as environmental spokesman for the town’s Conservative group, and he argued strongly for Bournemouth to become independent of Dorset County Council, a change which eventually came in 1997.

He campaigned on a variety of local issues, including a successful push to remove double yellow lines from around St Nicholas Church in Southbourne, and a campaign to retain a local branch of Midland Bank in Tuckton.

Cllr Chris Rochester, who knew Mr Bridger through his charity work, said: “He was always a proper gentleman, and he did a lot of good work in the community and was widely respected.”

He was born in Liverpool, and served in the Cheshire Regiment of the British Army during the Second World War, serving in Malta and Libya, and later in the Territorial Army.

Following the war Mr Bridger first moved to Bournemouth from Middlesbrough in the 1960s, working as a law lecturer at the technical college, and he later took the bar exams and became a barrister.

Mr Bridger and his first wife Margaret fell in love with the town, and after a brief spell away they moved to Southbourne and remained there.

They were married for 42 years, and he was at her side when she died at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in 1993 after a two year battle with cancer.

He later married Joan, who sadly died a few years later, then Carol, with whom he shared six happy years.

He had three children, Julia, Andrew and John, and many grandchildren.

For nearly 20 years Mr Bridger was involved with the charity ChestHelp Bournemouth, which supports people suffering from tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease across Bournemouth and Poole, serving as its chairman for most of that time.

During his time at the charity he did much to reform its constitution and boost its social activities and public profile.

Mr Bridger was a Friend of the Retired Nurses National Home in Riverside Avenue, a member of the Hengistbury Residents Association, Bournemouth and District Probus Club and Bournemouth East Conservative Party.

He was also closely associated with St Katherine’s and St Nicholas’ churches in Southbourne, and was instrumental in planning the former’s church hall.

His funeral service was held at St Katherine’s yesterday, with some 100 guests, including mayor Rod Cooper, paying their respects.