Edmund BRYDGES (2° B. Chandos of Sudeley)

Edmund, the eldest surviving son of John Brydges, 1st B. Chandos of Sudeley and Elizabeth Grey, succeeded to the title; married Dorothy, daughter of Edmund, Lord Bray; served in France in Henry VIII's reign. Member of Parliament for Wootton Bassett 1545, Gloucestershire Oct 1553; fought at Musselburgh under Somerset 27 Sep 1547, when he was created knight banneret, and at St. Quentin in 1556; KG nominated 23 Apr, installed 17 Jun 1572. Died 11 Sep 1573. George Gascoigne wrote a poem in praise of his eldest daughter, Catherine (Percy Ballads, 1765, ii. 150). Esquire of the body 1540; gentleman pensioner 1540-c. 1553; jointly (with father) constable, Sudeley Castle 1542-1557, sole 1557-death; jointly (with father) steward, Winchcombe and hundreds of Greatstone, Holford and Kiftsgate, Glos. 1542-1557, sole 1557-death; Justice of Peace, Glos., Wilts. 1547-death; commissioner relief, Glos. 1550, musters 1557-1558, 1569-1580; keeper, lordships of Crickdale, Highworth, Long Compton, Staple, Winterbourne Bassett and Wootton Bassett, Wilts. 1557-death, hundred of Slaughter, Glos. 1567-death; Lord Lieutenant, Glos. 1559, 1569; vice-admiral, Glos. 1561; forester, Bradon forest, Wilts. 1563; steward, manor of Hailes, Glos. 1563.

It was through his father's influence that Edmund Brydges was appointed esquire of the body for the reception of Anne of Cleves. On the occasion of his marriage, Henry VIII granted to him and his bride the manors of Minty and Purton in Wiltshire and the former town house of the abbots of St. Peter's in Gloucester. He served in the army sent to France in 1544 and he may have done duty at Boulogne where his father was lieutenant and his uncle, William, 13th Lord Grey of Wilton, governor. Brydges accompanied Grey in the expedition against Scotland, took part in the battle of Pinkie and was knighted on the field by the Duke of Somerset. When Grey was appointed to Guisnes at the beginning of Mary's reign, Brydges may have joined him, as did several of his kinsfolk, and in 1557 he was listed as the leader of a band of cavalry and infantry in the Netherlands. He probably remained there until after the fall of Calais since he was absent from the Lords for the opening sittings of the Parliament of 1558.

A case in the Star Chamber during Edward VI's reign, in which Brydges, with a number of relatives and servants, including John Tunks and William Reade, was accused of poaching, attempted murder, and contempt of the council in the marches, suggests that Brydges was capable of presuming upon his father's influence. It was doubtless that influence which procured Brydges return to the Parliament of 1545 for Wooton Bassett. Nothing is known of his activities in this Parliament. On the Crown Office list for Mary's first Parliament he is noted as one of those who 'stood for the true religion', that is, Protestantism. Perhaps because of this dissidence, and of his father's subsequent embarrassment, he was not to sit again, although he was instrumental in the return of others.

Brydges is not among the gentlemen pensioners 'as went not with with the Duke of Northumberland', and his name is not among the pensioners at either Edward VI's funeral or Mary's coronation.

Before the summoning of Mary's last Parliament Brydges had succeeded to the Barony of Chandos. He became an important government figure in the west country under Elizabeth and made appearances at court and in London; in Jan 1572 he was one of the peers at the trial of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk for treason, and in May of the same year he witnessed the creation of the Earls of Hertford and Lincoln. By the time of his death on 12 Mar 1573 Chandos had substantially increased his patrimony. By his will, made on 1 Mar 1572, he devised the bulk of his lands in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and elsewhere upon his eldest son Giles: excluded were the manors of Blunsdon, Haydon, Purton, Sevenhampton and Stratton, which had formed the jointure of his wife, and which were to pass after her death to his younger son William. He provided an annuity of 100 pounds and a dowry of 2,000 pounds for his daughter Eleanor and left the reversion of a lease to his illegitimate daughter Elizabeth Little. He named his wife, who afterwards married William Knollys, as his sole executrix. William Lord Sandys his son-in-law, Charles Brydges his brother, John Tracy his nephew, and Thomas Throckmorton, were appointed overseers.

Giles, son of Edmund, born in 1547, became 3rd Lord Chandos; was Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire in 1572; entertained Queen Elizabeth in 1592 at Sudeley, where the Queen had visited his wife 4 Aug 1574; married Lady Frances Clinton, and died 21 Feb 1593-4. His wife lived till 1623, and was buried at Cheyneys. Giles died without issue, and was succeeded as 4th Lord Chandos by his brother William, the father of Grey Brydges

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