A leading merchant in the Portugal trade and a prominent figure in the South Sea Company, Bristow was brought into Parliament by his brother-in-law, Sir John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire, voting consistently with the Government. After the outbreak of war with Spain in 1739 he, in partnership with Peter Burrell, secured contracts for remitting money for the forces in Gibraltar, Minorca and Jamaica,1Cal. Treas. Bks. and Pprs. 1739-41, passim. the last on such favourable terms as to give rise to allegations that Walpole had made a bad bargain for the public to oblige Bristow and Burrell as Members of Parliament.2Walpole to Mann. 29 Apr. 1742. After Walpole’s fall the matter was investigated by the secret committee set up by the Commons to inquire into his conduct, who endorsed the charges against him, observing that
throughout the whole course of this proceeding ... neither the interest of the soldier or the public service seemed to have been the object of the Earl of Orford’s attention.3CJ, xxiv. 289-92.
No action was taken on the report.
Bristow also played a part in financing the continental war. He was included in the Treasury list of underwriters of a government loan in 1744, his share being £150,000. In the same year he was appointed a trustee for managing a loan of £200,000 to the King of Sardinia. He was also concerned in the raising of supplies for the war in 1746. In 1753 he was one of the financiers who lent Danzig £90,000.4Gent. Mag. 1744, pp. 225, 562; Add. 33055, f. 29; Nichols, Literary Hist. ii. 278.
In later life Bristow ran into financial difficulties, arising partly from severe losses in the Lisbon earthquake. He died in Lisbon, 14 Nov. 1768.