BRIDGES, John (1610-64), of Alcester, Edstone Hall, Wootton Wawen, Warws., Kidderminster, Worcs. and Kilmallock, co. Limerick.

The Bridges family of Alcester, on the Warwickshire-Worcestershire border, owed their local standing to the Grevilles, Lords Brooke. Successive generations of the family had been retained by the Grevilles, and John Bridges’s father was 2nd Lord Brooke’s Warwickshire steward in the 1630s and early 1640s.20A. Hughes, Politics, Society and Civil War in Warws. 1620-1660 (Cambridge, 1987), 178; Warws. RO, Warwick Castle Archives, John Halford’s accounts, 1640-1, 1641-2, unfol.; CSP Dom. 1631-3, pp. 162, 282-3, 294. The family also held land in Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire from the Grevilles before the civil wars.21Warws. RO, Warwick Castle Archives, draft rent acc. 1639-48, unfol. After a spell at Gray’s Inn, John Bridges followed the family tradition, becoming Lord Brooke’s solicitor in the late 1630s, and he remained in contact with the family for at least another decade.22CUL, Dd.VIII.30.5, f. 23v. It was probably at Gray’s Inn that he came into contact with Bartholomew Beale of Walton, Buckinghamshire, whose kinswoman Bridges had married by September 1637. His wife’s name was Margaret, though an eighteenth century source gives it in error as Mary.23G Inn Admiss. 114, 223; PROB11/181, f. 503v; English Baronetage ed. A. Collins (1741), iv. 188-9. Margaret Bridges would become as much a friend of the orthodox godly in Kidderminster as her husband.24Baxter Corresp. i. 97, 98-9, 117. Their residence, probably before the civil war broke out, was Edstone Hall, Wootton Wawen, near Alcester, where Bridges experienced supernatural hauntings, later recorded by his friend, Richard Baxter.25R. Baxter, Certainty of the World of Spirits (1691), 37-8. In 1642, when Brooke became Parliament’s lord lieutenant for Warwickshire, he mobilized his household and tenantry against the king, appointing Bridges captain of foot in his own regiment and governor of Warwick Castle.26E101/612/64; SP28/2A, f. 177. In the early months of the civil war, Bridges repulsed the 2nd earl of Northampton’s attempts to take the castle by storm, and, with Coventry, Warwick became a safe haven for opponents of the crown forced to flee before the king’s army marching south towards Edgehill.27Reliquiae i. 29, 43-4. In the following years Bridges proved to be a useful commander: he held Warwickshire against royalist incursions in 1643, working with regional commanders including Sir Samuel Luke* and Sir John Gell*; took Stoke House and fought at Banbury in 1644; and in 1645 broke down the Avon bridges and fought a series of skirmishes to prevent the Oxford royalists coming to the relief of Chester.28Stowe 190, ff. 52v, 67; Derbs. RO, D258/10/29/11; Whitelocke, Mems. i. 210, 222, 388, 547. He also mounted periodic expeditions to relieve Gloucester and to prevent the build-up of enemy forces in Worcestershire.29CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 55, 97, 113, 138, 253-4; 1644-5, pp. 427, 434-5, 538, 567; Add. 31116, p. 413. After the Self Denying Ordinance of April 1645, Bridges was retained as governor of Warwick, in which capacity he helped negotiate the surrender of Worcester in 1646.30Whitelocke, Mems. i. 433; Diary and Pprs. of Henry Townshend ed. Porter, Roberts and Roy (Worcs. Hist. Soc. n.s. xxv), 234, 240, 260. He was also promoted to colonel of a county regiment independent of the New Model Army – a position which he held until 1648.31CSP Dom. 1645-7, pp. 133-4.

After the death of Lord Brooke in 1643, Bridges became involved in the internal politics of the parliamentarian party in Warwickshire, and especially in the rivalry which soon developed between the county committee (dominated by the late Lord Brooke’s ally, William Purefoy I*) and the 2nd earl of Denbigh. In their military activities in the mid-1640s Bridges and Purefoy chose to ignore the orders of Denbigh as their senior commander, and from late 1644 tensions had also arisen between the county committee and Denbigh’s allies in the local accounts sub-committee.32CSP Dom. 1644, p. 138; Hughes, Warws. 226, 238. The recruiter elections for the county seats in Warwickshire in the autumn of 1645 became a trial of strength between the two local factions, with Bridges and Richard Lucy* (as the county committee’s candidates) being successfully challenged by Denbigh’s friends, Thomas Boughton* and Sir John Burgoyne*.33Scotish Dove, no. 108 (7-12 Nov. 1645) (E.309.5); no. 109 (12-19 Nov. 1645) (E.309.24). During this election, dirty tricks were used by both sides. Bridges and his friends called in their troopers to sway the voters, and the sub-committee of accounts accused their opponents of corruption.34Hughes, Warws. 247-9. The most damaging accusation against Bridges was that before the battle of Edgehill in 1642 he had captured, and embezzled, part of the royal baggage train, unloading plate, clothing and supplies into a cellar of Warwick Castle, ‘called the pillage room’, and sending choice items to Lady Brooke’s house in London.35SP28/36, f. 254. It was also claimed that Bridges used his military power in the locality to extort money from the inhabitants, sequestering horses from neutrals, taking goods in order to sell them back to their original owners, and imprisoning anyone who resisted.36SP28/36, ff. 424-7. The local accounts committee continued their campaign against Bridges in 1646 and 1647, but were hampered by the county committee’s reluctance to co-operate and Bridges’ refusal to send in his accounts.37SP28/253A, f. 51; SP 28/256, unfol. It was not until 1651 that Bridges was brought to account, and, under a more favourable commonwealth regime, he was acquitted.

Although his enemies no doubt exaggerated their accusations, there is little doubt that Bridges emerged from the first civil war as a wealthy man. Throughout the 1640s he claimed a salary of £700 a year as an officer and governor of Warwick, and, although his arrears had not yet been settled, he acquired sufficient capital by other means to make at least two landed investments: in 1647 he purchased a £300 share in the Irish adventure from Sir Thomas Barrington*, which, when the allotments were made in 1654, furnished him with a substantial estate in co. Limerick; and before the end of 1649 he had also purchased lands in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, from Lady Blount.38E101/612/64; CJ vii.500a; CSP Ire. Adv. 350; CCC 2736. Prosperity brought increased social standing. Before the war he was a minor lawyer from a sub-gentry family; after 1646 he acquired not only a reputation as a soldier but also considerable local influence, sitting as a justice of the peace for Warwickshire at least until the end of 1648, and serving as assessment commissioner for the county throughout the commonwealth period.39Warws QSOB 1637-50, ed. Ratcliff and Johnson, 129-214; A. and O.

At some point from late 1648 Bridges transferred his residence, and most of his immediate interests, across the border into Worcestershire, where he had recently acquired Hurcott, a manor in Kidderminster. In the next few years, Bridges put aside his martial career, and became a patron of religious causes. His first move was to become patron and protector of the Presbyterian but non-sectarian divine, Richard Baxter, in the living of Kidderminster, although Baxter was never instituted vicar.40Reliquiae i. 69-70, 88. Then, using Baxter’s contacts within the ministry and his own position as commissioner for scandalous ministers in Worcestershire, Bridges set about organising a campaign against religious radicalism.41CJ vii. 185b. In December 1652 his efforts bore fruit: a petition in favour of a learned, sober ministry, penned by Baxter and signed by 6,000 Worcestershire men, was presented to the Rump by Bridges in person.42The Humble Petition of... Worcestershire (1652), 3, 6-8 (E.684.13). The partnership between Bridges and Baxter continued in the following years: Baxter’s Right Method for Peace of Conscience, published in 1653, was written as a result of his attempts to reassure Bridges’ wife on matters of grace and perseverance; and by 1654 Bridges had become a staunch supporter of the Worcestershire Association of ministers, a body heavily influenced by Baxter.43Reliquiae i. 109; Cal. Baxter Corresp. i. 99, 176n. Through Baxter, Bridges became intimate with men such as John Dury – who shared Baxter’s desire for unity between the reformed churches – and the Wiltshire Presbyterians, Peter ‘Praying’ Ince and Thomas Grove*.44Cal. Baxter Corresp. i. 94, 157, 178.

Bridges’ godly credentials must surely have helped secure his election as one of the county MPs for Worcestershire in 1654. Despite this, there are few indications in the surviving records of the session that Bridges was working with Richard Baxter, who was also in London to advise Parliament on religious affairs, although it may be significant that he was named to committees on the ordinance for ejecting scandalous ministers (25 Sept.) and to enumerate damnable heresies (12 Dec.).45CJ vii. 370a, 399b; Reliquiae i. 205-6. Bridges’ other activities were fairly mundane: he was appointed to committees on printing (22 Sept.) and on the bill for a ‘recognition’ of the government (25 Sept.); for Irish affairs (29 Sept.); and for the regulation of chancery (5 Oct.) and the corn trade (6 Oct.).46CJ vii. 369b, 370a, 371b, 374a, 374b. He played only a minor role in the controversies surrounding the Instrument of Government, which dominated the short-lived Parliament, being named to the committee to consider the cost of the armed forces, appointed on 18 January 1655.47CJ vii. 419a.

After the dissolution of the Parliament in January 1655, Bridges travelled to Ireland, presumably to take possession of his new estates in co. Limerick. While in Ireland, Bridges made contact with the Independent ministers who struggled to maintain an orthodox church against the Baptists and Quakers in the army - his first ally possibly being Claudius Gilbert, the preacher at Limerick City. In early July 1655, responding to ‘the persuasions of Colonel John Bridges’, Gilbert joined the Dublin minister, Samuel Winter, in writing to Baxter and the Worcestershire Association, asking for help in maintaining a preaching ministry in Ireland.48Reliquiae i. 169; Baxter Corresp. i. 186, 188. This letter was duly delivered by Bridges on his return to England, and a favourable reply forwarded from Worcestershire.49Reliquiae i. 170. In the same period, Bridges was instrumental in drawing up a petition in favour of a godly ministry in Ireland, which was sent to the lord deputy, Charles Fleetwood*. In reply, Fleetwood agreed to authorise Bridges, Baxter, and a number of prominent ministers from Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, as ‘certifiers’ to approve preachers to be recruited for the Irish church.50Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 527-8. Contacts between the two churches, which continued into 1656, were greatly strengthened by their common regard for ‘our much esteemed friend, Colonel Bridges’.51Reliquiae i. 169, 171.

Bridges’s involvement in the propagation of the gospel in Ireland may have brought him to the notice of the new general of the Irish army, Henry Cromwell*, who spent much of the mid-1650s wooing the Independents and placating the Presbyterians in an attempt to undermine the influence of the army radicals. When Bridges returned to Ireland in early 1656, he became embroiled in the protracted disputes over land allocation, and in June 1656 he was appointed commissioner for settling adventurers’ disputes.52Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 603. It was perhaps in the same period (and certainly before 1657) that Bridges was made governor of Kilmallock, and by the autumn of 1656 he was acting as commissioner for the public revenue of Ireland.53CSP Dom. 1656-7, p. 330; SP63/281, unfol. These appointments indicate that Bridges had become a man trusted by the Dublin administration, and it was presumably with the support of Henry Cromwell that Bridges was elected in the same year as MP for the counties of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon: an area controlled by Cromwell’s ally, Sir Charles Coote*.54Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 624.

Bridges arrived in Westminster in October 1656, but played little part in the business of the House, according to the Journals. His committee appointments suggest that he continued to be interested in promoting the religious settlement of England, and especially in ensuring lecturers and ministers had adequate stipends.55CJ vii. 448b, 498a, 515b. He also used Parliament for his own ends, securing on 7 March 1657 an order for the stating of his accounts and the payment of his arrears as a soldier in the 1640s.56CJ vii. 500a. Bridges supported the Humble Petition and Advice, and voted in favour of kingship on 25 March.57Narrative of the Late Parliament (1657), 23 (E.935.5). In early April 1657 he was named to two committees to present Parliament’s views on the new constitution to the protector and to answer his doubts.58CJ vii. 520b, 521b. Yet the dearth of references to Bridges in the official parliamentary record belies his importance as Henry Cromwell’s agent throughout the first sitting of this Parliament. As early as November 1656 he warned Henry that the army officers – led by ‘five great persons’ – were preparing to resist attempts to introduce a hereditary protectorate.59Henry Cromwell Corresp. 186-7. In March and April 1657 Bridges sent detailed reports to Dublin of the progress of the Humble Petition. On 3 March he sent documents concerning ‘the great business that lies before us’ and voiced his hopes that after the initial crisis the Members ‘grow towards a reconcilement’.60Henry Cromwell Corresp. 217-8. A week later he told Henry of the passing of the vote creating the Other House and the progress of other matters, and praised ‘the prudent and dextrous’ activities of Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle*).61Henry Cromwell Corresp. 221. On 24 March he reported that, despite his earlier confidence that ‘we should have laid the top stone of that great and noble structure we have been so long in framing’, the supporters of reform had been hampered by ‘the major generals and their party’, who opposed the offer of the crown under the first article.62Henry Cromwell Corresp. 234-5. On 31 March Bridges was again hopeful of success, but in early April admitted that the protector’s reluctance to accept the crown had caused ‘many of our best friends’ – including Lord Broghill, Sir Charles Wolseley and John Glynne – to withdraw from the House.63Henry Cromwell Corresp. 238-9, 247-8. On 13 April, Bridges reported to Henry that the protector was thought to be turning away from kingship, fearing ‘some distemper in the army’, and an uprising by the Fifth Monarchists.64Henry Cromwell Corresp. 253-4. As well as revealing his closeness to Henry Cromwell, this correspondence confirms that Bridges was himself deeply committed to the new conservative constitution, which promised to prevent the army radicals from dashing the hopes of religious and political stability so long entertained by Bridges and his friends in Worcestershire and Ireland.

After the rejection of the crown by Oliver Cromwell on 8 May, Bridges returned to Ireland. His activities for the following two years are uncertain, and this may indicate his disillusion with the regime, which he shared with other former ‘kinglings’, including Bridges’ Limerick neighbours, Lord Broghill and Sir Hardress Waller*. Bridges was not elected for Richard Cromwell’s* Parliament, although he kept abreast of events at Westminster, for example receiving a newsletter from Robert Beake*, dated 15 February 1659, which he then passed on the Henry Cromwell.65Henry Cromwell Corresp. 459-60. With the collapse of the protectorate, and the ousting of Henry Cromwell from the Dublin government in the following May, Bridges became more involved in public affairs. In July 1659 he was re-appointed commissioner for the public revenue in Ireland, and in August he returned to the military establishment as a major (although paid as a colonel) in one of the regiments recently withdrawn from Flanders.66Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 698; CJ vii. 760b. But within a few months of accepting the new command, Bridges, clearly unhappy with the increased influence of the army radicals, decided to join with ‘the sober godly officers’ in Ireland, in an attempt to seize control of the government.67Reliquiae i. 105. In mid-December 1659 a group of soldiers led by Bridges and Sir Theophilus Jones* surprised Dublin Castle.68Ludlow, Mems. ii. 185; Clarke, Prelude to Restoration, 113n, 121. Their actions were seconded by a hastily summoned council of war attended by Sir Charles Coote, Bridges and other senior officers, which denounced their commander-in-chief, Edmund Ludlowe II*, as ‘no friend of Parliament’, and refused him entry into the Irish capital.69CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 695; Ludlow, Mems. ii. 471. Further support soon arrived from Westminster, with the Rump endorsing the officers’ actions, and recognised the ‘Convention’ they had set up in Dublin.70Ludlow, Mems. ii. 202.

The restoration of the Stuart crown in 1660 may initially have been welcomed by Bridges as the best cure for the political instability which had become endemic after the fall of the protectoral regime. Bridges seems to have cooperated with Parliament in the weeks before the return of the king, when he crossed and re-crossed the Irish Sea on the ‘special service’ of the state, and in the early years of Charles II’s reign he served as colonel of foot in the Irish army, and as MP for Kilmallock in the Irish Parliament.71CSP Dom. 1659-60, p. 594; HMC Ormonde, o.s. ii. 245; CJI i. 592. Bridges’s experiences after 1660 were not entirely positive, however. As early as June 1660 Bridges’ old enemies in Warwickshire had resurrected the old charges of corruption, despite the recently passed acts of indemnity, and although he was acquitted, in 1663 the matter was still being pursued by those who hoped to gain from his downfall.72CSP Dom. 1660-1, p. 81; 1663-4, pp. 120, 242, 247. According to Baxter, Bridges was being pursued for a sum amounting to £80,000.73Reliquiae, 106. In addition, hopes that the restoration religious settlement might accommodate nonconformists had been destroyed in 1662. Bridges, apparently discomfited by the recent turn of events, sold Hurcott manor and his rights to the living of Kidderminster to Thomas Foley* that year, but on condition that Foley should appoint Baxter to the living. Circumstances prevented this promise from being kept.74Cal. Baxter Corresp. ii. 90n.; VCH Worcs. iii. 172, 175. Bridges died of a fever at Chester – presumably en route for Ireland – and was buried on 29 February 1664 at Holy Trinity church there, where there was once a monument to his memory.75Chester, Holy Trinity par. reg.; Ormerod, Chester (1819), 263; Reliquiae, 109. He left no known will, but was succeeded by his eldest son, John Bridges. His second son, Brooke Bridges, became an auditor of the imprests in the treasury, succeeded to the family’s Irish estates, and was the father of Sir Brook Bridges, 1st bt.76English Baronetage ed. Collins, 189-90; Down Survey website. The first baronet’s grandson, the third baronet and also Brook Bridges, sat for Kent from 1763.77CB v. 44-5.