Family and Education

b. c.1679, 1st s. of George Rodney Brydges, M.P., of Avington by Anna Maria, da. of Robert Brudenell, 2nd Earl of Cardigan, wid. of Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury. m. Anne, da. of Sir Joseph Woolfe, of London, merchant and alderman, s.p. suc. fa. 1714, uncle Harry Brydges at Keynsham, Som. 1728.

Offices Held

Master keeper of the south bailiwick in New Forest.

Biography

Descended from a Somerset family, Brydges represented Winchester on his own interest for 37 years, consistently voting with the Administration. In a letter to Sir Robert Walpole, asking for help in the contested election of 1734, he wrote, 8 Jan.: ‘It is as much in your interest that I should be chose as mine, for you are sure of a sincere friend in the House’. His cousin, the 1st Duke of Chandos, described him, 29 Apr. 1734, as ‘one who has served his country and the Administration long and so affectionately and without any expense to them’.1 He died 13 May 1751, leaving the greater part of his property to Henry Brydges, 2nd Duke of Chandos.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss; Chandos letter bks.