Derek Lawley Bridgwater was born in Kington, Hertfordshire on 5 May 1899. In 1920 he enrolled at Liverpool University School of Architecture from where he graduated with a B.Arch. in 1924. He subsequently practised as an architect in London. In the 1930s he was a partner in the architectural firm Mitchell & Bridgwater.
Between 1926 and 1930 Bridgwater was a lecturer and studio instructor at the University of Liverpool School of Architecture.
Bridgwater was co-author, with John Gloag, of A History of Cast Iron in Architecture (1948).
Bridgwater was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1923. His address was given as Cottage, 62, Lightwoods Hill, Warley Woods, Birmingham in 1926;
28 Newton Road, London and 117 Hanover Square, London in 1935; 42 Bruton Place, Berkeley Square, London in 1939; 37 Lansdown Road, London in 1939 and 1950; and 44 Church Square, Rye, East Sussex in 1983. He died on 10 March 1983
Architectural works by Bridgwater included Francis Gray House in Stepney, London; St. Felix's School on Southwold, Suffolk; St. Swithun's School in Winchester, Hampshire; a Roman Catholic school in Hammersmith, London; North Gate fats in Regent's Park, London; and Branches of Barclays Bank in Horley, Surrey and Sevenoaks, Kent.
Sharples, Joseph, Powers, Alan and Shippobottom, Michael. Charles Reilly & the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904-1933. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 25 October 1996 - 2 February 1997. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996 p. 167 [Contains other references to Bridgwater, unfortunately, the catalogue is not indexed]