Teresa Bridgeman

Tessa Bridgeman CBE (1937–2019) was a charity executive. She was associated with St Michael's Fellowship and Barnardo's. She handled the re-targeting of the Baring Foundation after the collapse of Barings Bank where her husband chaired the board. Life Bridgeman was born in 1937. Her parents were Diana Mary Erica (born Wilson) and Maurice Bridgeman who had married four years before. Her father worked for an oil company until the war started when he became a civil servant. She had an elder sister Erica Jane Bridgeman and in time she had two younger sisters Elizabeth Caroline Bridgeman and Rachel Diana Bridgeman who were born in 1944 and 1947. She was sent to a small private school before she went to Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She did not go on to higher education and she left school when she was sixteen. She learned French and Italian and went to work abroad until she was a debutante. She worked in Britain until she married Peter Baring in 1960. He had graduated from Cambridge University and he had joined Baring Brothers & Co. the year before. She continued her education and she took a sociology degree at the Polytechnic of Central London after she had gained three A levels by correspondence. She went on to work with charities including a long association with St Michael's Fellowship. She joined the board of Barnardo's and in 1987 she became the chair of their board until 1993.