George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos
The Lord Chandos | |
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 Inscription on the lead coffin of George Brydges | |
| Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire | |
| In office 1641–1642 | |
| Monarch | Charles I |
| Preceded by | Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton |
| Succeeded by | English Interregnum |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1620 Sudeley Castle |
| Died | 6 February 1655 London |
| Resting place | St. Mary's Church, Sudeley Castle |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Royalist |
| Battles/wars | First English Civil War
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George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos (1620–1655), was an English peer who supported Charles I in the English Civil War.
Life
[edit]He was born 9 August 1620,[1] the elder son of Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos (c. 1580 – 10 August 1621) and Lady Anne Stanley.[2] His mother was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VIII's sister, Mary Tudor.[3] Following his father's unexpected death in 1621, which left his mother with four young children and a modest income, his mother married the recently widowed Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven.[4] George spent much of his childhood in the care of his maternal grandmother Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby.[5] Following his death, Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester became his guardian.[6] In February 1638 he went abroad to finish his education.[7]
According to his later account, on reaching 21 and the end of his wardship he had an estate worth £3,120 per annum. His actual income was significantly reduced by the need to provide annuities for his mother and younger brother.[7]
Through his possession of Sudeley Castle George was an important landowner in Gloucestershire, although his youth meant that he had not established himself as a political force.[8] At the outbreak of the Civil War he received a Commission of array from the king. His attempt to execute this in Cirencester met with considerable opposition and he had to flee from the town.[9][10] Rather than remain at Sudeley, a strategic stronghold, he went with men and plate to join the king,[11] but remained an important figure in the royalist administration of the county.[12] He subsequently distinguished himself at the first Battle of Newbury in 1643.[13] However, following his failure to be appointed colonel-general by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in 1644 after the failure of the siege despite support from the Court, 'out of pure weariness of the fatigue' he went to London to seek a composition with parliament.[14] By petitioning to compound then, his eventual fine was only for a tenth of his estate rather than a third.[15]
In 1649, after the end of the civil war, Parliament ordered the slighting of Sudeley Castle, to ensure that it could never again be used as a military post. In 1650, he received some financial compensation for the loss of the castle but not enough for reconstruction. The castle remained semi-derelict.[16][17]
In 1651 he corresponded with Charles II, raising hopes that he would again act as a royalist leader in Gloucestershire.[18] He was arrested in April 1651, but although bailed he fled abroad in May 1652 after killing Colonel Henry Compton, son of Sir Henry Compton in one of the first recorded duels at Putney.[19] He returned the following year and was convicted of manslaughter and burned in the hand 'a strange doom for a nobleman'.[18]
On 6 February 1655, he died of smallpox at his house in Covent Garden, and was buried at Sudeley.[19] As he had a number of daughters but no male heir, he was succeeded by his younger brother William
Family
[edit]He married twice:[20] 1. Lady Susan Montagu (d. 1651), daughter of his guardian Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester 2. Lady Jane Savage, daughter of John Savage, 2nd Earl Rivers, who subsequently married Sir William Sedley and George Pitt.[21][22]
References
[edit]- ^ Dent, Emma (1877). Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley. London: John Murray. "Sudeley Castle", pp. 254.
- ^
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1886). "Brydges, Grey". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 7. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. p. 84.
- ^ Herrup, Cynthia B. (2001). A House in Gross Disorder. OUP. pp. 12–13.
- ^ Herrup 2001, p. 14.
- ^ Dent 1877, p. 253.
- ^ a b Dent 1877, p. 255.
- ^ Warmington, A.R. (1997). Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration in Gloucestershire 1640-1672. p. 20.
- ^ Wroughton, John (1999). An Unhappy Civil War. pp. 18–19.
- ^ Warmington 1997, p. 33.
- ^ Dent 1877, p. 258.
- ^ Warmington 1997, p. 59.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chandos, Barons and Dukes of s.v. John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 838.
- ^ Warmington 1997, p. 57.
- ^ Dent 1877, pp. 284–5.
- ^ Dent 1877, pp. 285–6.
- ^ "History". Sudeley Castle. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ a b Warmington 1997, p. 119.
- ^ a b Dent 1877, p. 286.
- ^ The Official Baronage of England. Vol. 1. 1866. p. 354.
- ^ Hasted, Edward (1798). The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. Vol. 4. p. 428.
- ^ Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Baronetage, Titles of Courtesy and the Knightage. 1822. p. 502.
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