BRIDGES, Sir Brook, 3rd Bt. (1733-91), of Goodnestone Park, Kent

Bridges owned considerable property in Kent and was closely related to several important Kentish families, including the Finches; and when in 1763 a vacancy occurred for the county, Lord Gower wrote to the Duke of Bedford: ‘Sir Brooke Bridges is chiefly talked of, he will be under the influence of the Finches, how they stand disposed at present Administration will, I suppose know.’Bedford mss 48, f. 134. Bridges was supported by Newcastle and the Duke of Dorset. An opposition was threatened by John Sawbridge, but a local man, Thomas Dilkes, wrote to the Duke of Portland, 30 Oct. 1763: ‘Sawbridge has given up, as he says Sir B. is an honest fellow and thinks as he does of the ministry.’Portland mss. In Parliament Bridges’s first reported vote was with Administration on general warrants, 6 Feb. 1764, but in the division of 18 Feb. he voted with Opposition. Newcastle, 10 May 1764, classed him as ‘doubtful’, but Rockingham, July 1765, as ‘pro’, and November 1766, as ‘Whig’. He voted with Opposition on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767. In 1768 he was again returned unopposed. During this Parliament he voted regularly with Opposition, yet he appears as a friend voting with Opposition in the King’s list of the division on Grenville’s Act, 25 Feb. 1774, and was classed by Robinson in 1774 as ‘doubtful’. There is no record of his having spoken in the House.

He died 4 Sept. 1791.