BRIDGWATER, John

Nearly all that is known about Bridgwater relates to his service to Henry VI as a member of his household from the very first year of his reign until the King became a captive of the Yorkist lords in 1460, a period of 38 years. Indeed, he may initially have been employed by Henry’s father. He was simply called the King’s ‘servitour’ in June 1423, when he shared with five others a reward of £4 for attending upon the ambassadors from France, but was one of three pages of the Chamber at least by the spring of 1426. It was then noted that Henry V had been wont to give the grooms and pages of the Chamber one or two extra rewards every year, as their wages (two nobles for a groom and just one for a page), were too small to sustain them in their duties which required them to be continually in attendance on the King and to run errands on his behalf. In consideration of the excellent service done by the eight grooms and the three pages, not only to the King but to his father, they were now to share a reward of £20. A similar reward of £20 was to be parceled out in July 1427.2 E404/39/321; 42/274, 347; E403/683, m. 1. For a later gift, see E403/696, m. 12. Following his promotion as a groom of the Chamber, Bridgwater received besides his regular emoluments,3 Add. 17721, f. 38d; E101/409/12. additional perquisites, including the duchy offices of keeper of Holt chase and warrener of Badbury, and in April 1436 he was granted a corrody at Kenilworth priory, Warwickshire.4 CCR, 1435-41, p. 68.

Without doubt, Bridgwater’s return to Parliament for Wallingford in 1442 should be attributed to his position in the King’s chamber, and perhaps also to a personal connexion with the steward of the Household, William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, who was the constable of Wallingford castle. On 31 May, two months after the Parliament was dissolved, he and his fellow keeper of Holt chase, Henry Waren, were given custody of the manor of Kingston Lacy for life.5 DL37/10/29. In January 1444 Bridgwater agreed to relinquish his corrody at Kenilworth, so that William Uldale, who worked in the royal spicery, might share it with him: they were granted it for term of their lives in survivorship.6 CCR, 1441-7, p. 220. During the King’s illness when, on 13 Nov. 1454, ordinances were drawn up regulating the Household and reducing the numbers of royal retainers, Bridgwater was one of the nine grooms of the chamber kept on to attend the King.7 PPC, vi. 225. And there he remained until the end of August 1460, by which date his royal master had come under the control of the Yorkists, victorious at the battle of Northampton.8 E361/6, rots. 50, 51d. What became of Bridgwater thereafter has not been discovered, although it seems very likely that he accompanied King Henry into exile.