Monica Bridges

(Mary) Monica Bridges born Mary Monica Waterhouse (pseud) Matthew Barnes (31 August 1863 – 9 November 1949) was a British pianist, composer and collaborator with her husband the poet Robert Bridges. She made italic handwriting popular in British schools.

Life Bridges was born in Victoria Park, Manchester, in 1863 and brought up in the grand house of Foxhill House near Reading which her parents lived in until 1881. Her mother, Elizabeth (born Hodgkin), taught her arts and crafts and she became a pianist and a composer. Her father, Alfred Waterhouse, was a prolific and very successful architect. She was a skilled calligrapher and this book is credited with making italic handwriting fashionable in British schools.

Deaths and legacy Her husband died in 1930 and Bridges died in South London in 1949. Her (and her husband's) correspondence is held in the Bodleian Library.