Dr John Bridson, whose father James Marshall Bridson founded the Bridson & Horrox printing company in 1933, has died aged 80.

Born in Noble’s Hospital in 1940, John lived in Hilary Park before leaving the island at age seven, following the death of his father at work, aged 49.

With his father having been a Freemason, this resulted in John attending the Royal Masonic Boarding School for Boys in Hertfordshire.

He then went to medical school at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School in London.

He went on to become head consultant paediatrician at Barnsley Hospital from 1976 until his retirement in 2000.

John’s medical career also had an international element, with him having helped out in field hospitals during the Kosovo conflict, and he also worked with public health authorities in Albania to cure hypothyroidism by discovering iodine deficiencies in the population.

His wife Jenny, who he met in the hospital where she worked as a nurse (before marrying in 1990), said that ’he never stopped loving the island’ as his home and would never have left it, had he been given the choice.

During their married life they took several trips back to the island, with their children and then grandchildren.

ballabeg

Their last trip was three years ago where they rented Ballafodda Farm in Ballabeg.

Another trip was planned for next year, ’but it wasn’t to be’ said Jenny.

John leaves behind seven children, and nine grandchildren.

His two sisters Kathleen and Vivian stayed in the island before moving to London, with Vivian going on to become a professional dancer who starred in films like Fury and Star Wars Episode VII.

Jenny added the family plans to return and scatter his ashes in Port Erin and at his mother’s grave in Douglas Cemetery.