BRIDGES, William II, of Southwark, Surr.

Bridges’ origins are obscure. There is no evidence that he was related to Richard Bridges I*, even though like him he may have represented the borough of Great Bedwyn; nor that he was a kinsman of another William Bridges, who after serving Henry V rose to be Garter King of Arms under Henry VI. CPR, 1441-6, p. 410. The Garter King of Arms m. Agnes, sis. of Thomas Haddon* of Sandwich. His will was dated 26 Feb. 1449, and although still living at Easter that year he died before Hil. 1451: Lambeth Palace Lib., Reg. Stafford, f. 189v; KB27/759, rot. 46. Details of his early career are equally uncertain, although he should certainly be distinguished from his namesake, William I*, whose career was principally centred on Guildford. Coincidentally, both Williams were returned by Surrey boroughs to the Parliament of 1437. By then, the MP for Southwark had become established in the town he represented, and had formed associations with other inhabitants of note. In December 1439 when he formally undertook, with William Redstone* and Hugh Ashbury*, to do no harm to Thomas Boston or his wife Joan, their mainpernors included prominent Southwark burgesses such as John Tingleden* and Nicholas Preest*. A year later Bridges was a witness to a deed granting lands in the parish of St. Olave which had formerly belonged to Henry Yevele, the architect and builder. Further activity in July 1445 saw him involved in the granting of a messuage in Southwark to St. Mary’s priory. CCR, 1435-41, p. 351; 1441-7, p. 481; C143/450/31. By the 1450s he was evidently a well-known figure in the locality, and, as well as representing the borough in Parliament for a second time, he was chosen to serve on royal commissions de walliis et fossatis along the Thames between Wandsworth and East Greenwich, including Southwark, Paris Garden and Lambeth. Likewise, in June 1460, he was appointed to a commission to remove prostitutes from Southwark.

Perhaps more significant for Bridges’ career, however, was his service in the mid 1440s as bailiff of the liberties of the bishop of London in Surrey and Sussex. The success of this appointment may be indicated by the grant of February 1449, made in reversion to him and Bartholomew Willesdon of the Exchequer, of the royal office of bailiff of Burley in the New Forest. Indeed, he may even have come to the personal attention of Henry VI, for in this grant he was not only described as a King’s serjeant (indicating an existing connexion with the royal household), but also as receiver-general of King’s College, Cambridge. CPR, 1446-52, p. 27. Bridges appears to have been the first holder of this latter office, following the formal foundation of the college by King Henry in March 1446. He occupied the post, which bore an annual stipend of as much as £10, for another nine years, although at some point after Michaelmas 1451 the administrative burden of the college’s ever-increasing endowment resulted in the division of the office into two departments: Bridges continued to administer the estates in the south of England while Arthur Seymper took over those in the north. In 1455 both receiverships lapsed and the administration of the entire endowment was taken over by the college bursars. Cambridge Historical Jnl. iii. 209-10.

Although the grant in reversion of the bailiwick of Burley coincided with the Parliament of February 1449, it seems more likely that William Bridges, the representative for the Wiltshire borough of Wootton Bassett, was a different man – one who lived a few miles away from the borough, at Highworth. Yet William Bridges of Southwark was probably the person returned for another Wiltshire borough, that of Great Bedwyn, to the Parliament of 1450. The evidence is circumstantial. While the Parliament was in progress in November 1450, this ‘gentleman of Southwark’ acted as a mainpernor at the Exchequer for one of the knights of the shire for Herefordshire, Thomas Fitzharry*, on his appointment as guardian of the temporalities of the bishopric of Hereford. CFR, xviii. 185. It was his home town of Southwark which Bridges represented in the succeeding Parliament, the one which assembled at Reading in 1453.

Without doubt, Bridges’ career was furthered most by the patronage of William Waynflete, bishop of Winchester. From at least the time of the Reading Parliament until 1465 he held the important post of bailiff of the liberties of the bishop in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, a position for which he was well qualified, having performed similar roles for the diocese of London and for King’s College, Cambridge. The latter position may well have been a crucial factor in Bridges’ recruitment by Waynflete, whose close relationship with Henry VI had resulted in his appointment in 1448 as chief supervisor of the works at King’s and at Eton, where he had only recently ceased to be headmaster on his elevation to the episcopate. V. Davis, ‘Wm. Waynflete and the Educational Revolution’, in People, Politics and Community ed. Rosenthal and Richmond, 47-50; K.E. Selway, ‘Eton and King’s’ (Oxf. Univ. D.Phil. thesis, 1993), 232-43. Perhaps Bridges entered Waynflete’s service at this time, while continuing to perform his duties at King’s. His prominence in Southwark may also have played a part in his recruitment by the bishop, who had jurisdiction over the Clink liberty south of the river. On the other hand Bridges’ appointment to a royal commission to remove prostitutes from Southwark may perhaps have proved slightly awkward for him as the diocese of Winchester derived a significant part of its income from the stews or brothels in its Southwark liberty. VCH Surr. iv. 142-8; D.J. Johnson, Southwark and the City, 64-66.

By then Bridges had become a trusted official of Waynflete: in 1456 he was described in the accounts of the bishopric as solicitator domini, indicating a role as a financial or legal agent of some kind, for which he received an annual fee of 66s. 8d. He continued to act in this capacity until 1464 or 1465 when he may have died or else retired, his place as bailiff of the episcopal liberties in Oxfordshire and Berkshire being then taken by (Sir) Richard Harcourt*. Bp. of Winchester’s pipe rolls, 11 M59/B1/192, 193, 197. This period of employment by Waynflete brought many benefits. In 1455 he was returned to Parliament once more, this time for the bishop’s borough of Downton, and in November 1456, following Waynflete’s appointment as chancellor, he secured the office of escheator of Surrey and Sussex. Similarly, the next year, following the death of Richard Clevedon, Bridges alone was granted the bailiwick of Burley and for term of his life. CPR, 1452-61, p.336. Clevedon had held the post since 1421: CPR, 1422-9, p. 178; 1452-61, p. 235. In return for these favours he aided Waynflete in his educational enterprises. The 1450s saw the bishop begin the process of acquiring the endowment necessary for the refounding of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as Magdalen College. Thus in May 1455 Waynflete acquired manors in Enham and Somborne Regis, Hampshire, from John Audley*, whose financial difficulties forced him to accept a discounted price in order to meet an obligation; Bridges acted as a feoffee for the transactions. Magdalen Coll. Oxf., Enham deeds, B191; Somborne Regis deeds, A1, A110 (enrolled in CCR, 1454-61, p. 67); Davis, 127.

The accession of Edward IV appears to have done little to affect Bridges’ career, save for his immediate removal from the bailiwick of Burley, for, having secured the office of controller of customs in the port of Poole in August 1460, he was confirmed in office by the new King in November 1461. Although Waynflete was no longer chancellor and had failed to inspire the trust of the Yorkist regime, Bridges continued to act on his behalf in the early 1460s. CPR, 1452-61, p. 589; 1461-7, pp. 8, 79. Throughout this period he also maintained his connexion with Southwark, and in 1462 was pardoned as a ‘gentleman of Southwark alias former escheator of Surrey and Sussex’. C66/45, m.45. He may have died in 1464-5, the year in which he was replaced as Waynflete’s bailiff and solicitator.