Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 2.djvu/167

346 disinable him to give anye testimony, but to that he gave a full answer, & [I] have sent to the dark of the peace for the impanell of the jurors ye tryed him & ye proceedings that were [taken] against him, wch as soone as I can shalbe sent up if you desire ym. . . . . . . Mr. Hunt was yesterday wth Mr. Bridge when my letter came to Wigan; who did assure Mr. Bridge, & so wisht him to signifie to me, that as yet there is not anythinge that at all concerns your Lo'pp. Mr. Hunt told the knight yesterday they did wronge themselves and your Lo'pp if they did receave any informacon from Reynolls, whoe did report your Lo'pp would be layd by it if ever you came to London. I conceave they mean not to sett from Wigan this week, yet the knight sent away his man this daye. . . . . . . These proceedings will redound greatly to your Lo'pp's honnor & reputa$\overline{c}$on in the end, if you incounter this buissnes with a spiritt. . . . . . I was all last week wth my sister, whoe I prais God is well, and I hope will soe continue if she her ye you remayn soe. . . . . . . Whatsoever service you injoyn me shalbe to my utmost obeyd. My continuall prayers to God are & shalbe to give your Lo'pp cowridge & health of body ; and then I rest assured you will retoume to the terror of your enemyes & great comfort of your ffriends;. . . . . . . soe with my most humble service remembred I rest your Lo'pp's to command, {{right|{{sc|Ed. Bridgeman.}} Edward Bridgeman, of Sankey, Esq., was the bishop's younger brother. He was returned to parliament for the borough of Wigan in 1625, and again in 1626 and 1628. He had a grant from Charles I. of the post of Searcher, Packer and Gauger of the Post at Dublin, which he exercised by deputy, for he resided at Little Sankey near Warrington, or else at Crontonshaw in Cheshire, where he also had an estate. He was a staunch loyalist, and not only took up arms in behalf of the King, but lent him £5000 in his distresses. (Private memoir of Richard Edgeworth, dated 1747, communicated to the writer in 1858 by Charles Sneyd Edgeworth, Esq,, of Langham House, Ham-common). His house at Little Sankey was stormed by the parliamentary army, and he was put to heavy penalties as a delinquent. In Burghall's Providence Improved an account is given of an attack made by the parliamentarians on Warrington. He says: "Sir Wm. Brereton and they begirt the town about & fiercely assaulted it, having gotten Sankey Bridge, a fair house of one Mr. Bridgeman's, and some of the outer walls, and within a short time were likely to get the whole, which the Earl of Derby perceiving set the middle of the town on fire, protesting he would burn it all down ere they should have it; which the parliament forces perceiving, to save it from utter destruction withdrew their forces." This occurred in April, 1643. The Lancashire sequestrations afford abundant evidence that Edward Bridgeman was a consistent royalist, and that he suffered heavily in his purse as well as in the attack upon his house alluded to by Burghall. He died near Derby while riding up to London, and was buried at Chigwell in October, 1645 (Family Evidences), He was thrice married, but left issue only by his last wife. His first wife, whose name is unrecorded, was married to him in 1620 (Family Evidences), His second marriage is thus entered in the parish register of Warrington : "1627, June 30, Edward Bridgeman Esquire & Eleanor Brooke widow were married." Her maiden name was Gerard, and she was the third wife of Thomas Brook of Norton, in the county of Chester, Esq., who died in 1622, and mother by him of Sir Peter Brook, of Mere, knight, of Alice, married to Thomas Birch of Birch, in the county of Lancaster, and of Elinor, married to William Ashton, rector of Middleton (hence called by bishop Bridgeman cousin parson Ashton of Middleton). She stood sponsor to Edward Bridgeman, the bishop's youngest son, who was born at Chester, and baptized in his private chapel there 5th September, 1630. She was buried at Warrington 12th January, 1637-8 (Warrington Parish Register). Edward Bridgeman married thirdly Anne daughter of Sir Hugh Chamberlayne, knight, by whom he had an only daughter and heiress Anne, born 13th October {Edgeworth Evidences) and baptized at Warrington 26th November (Warrington Parish Register), 1642, who became the wife of Sir John Edgeworth, knight, of Cranalagh Castle in Ireland, by whom she had a numerous issue. She survived her husband many years, and lived on her own estate. She sold her property at Little Sankey in 1661, and her estate at Crontonshaw and that called "Sefton's tenement" (presumed to be the same with Acton Grange) in 1704, and removed from Cheshire to Ireland, where she died in 1714 at Longwood, the residence of her second son Robert. Her sixth son, Essex Edgeworth, a clergyman, was father of Monsieur de Firmont, the celebrated Abbé Edgeworth; and her eldest son Francis was represented in 1S67 by Michael Packenham Edgeworth, Esq., who quarters the arms of Bridgeman with his paternal coat. On 20th January, 1620-1, Edward Bridgeman, then describing himself as of Livesley in the county of Lancaster, gent., third son of Thomas Bridgeman of Greenway, in the county of Devon, gave for his paternal coal sables, 10 bezants, 4, 3, 2, and 1, upon a creast argent a lyon passant erminge; and for a difference of consanguinitie a mullett or; when he had confirmed to him by Sir Richard St. George, knight, Norrey King of Arms, for a crest, upon a wreath or and sable a demy lyon argent gutty gules jesant a lawrell gardant proper. He died intestate, and on 16th March, 1645-6, leave was granted to Anne his widow to administer to his effects; although in the Lancashire Sequestrations of the following year his estates had to be compounded for under his own name at £100 (Baines' Lanc. vol. ii. p. 35). But this administration was subsequently cancelled, and several years after, namely on 3rd August, 1659, letters of administration issued from the Court of Probate in London to "Anne Edgeworth alias Bridgman the daughter of Edward Bridgman, late of Warrington, in the county of Lancaster, Esquire, intestate, deceased" (orig. copy in Court of Probate). His landed property, with £10,000 in money, came to his daughter, and the rest of his property, consisting of upwards of £10,000, fell to his widow, who married Captain John Edgeworth, father of Sir John, who afterwards married her daughter. She died in Dublin in 1685, and by her will, dated in 1677, she left her property to her brother Nathaniel Chamberlaine, Bachelor of Physic, who proved her will in the Consistory Court at Dublin. Though Edward Bridgeman styled himself third son of Thomas Bridgeman in 1620, he was, strictly speaking, the fifth son. Humphrey the second son died soon after he grew up; Thomas was the third son, and Andrew (who probably died in his infancy) the fourth. The bishop had also several sisters, namely, Agnes, Joan, Emlinge, Ruth, Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia and Priscilla; of whom Agnes married John Smith of Exeter; one of her daughters, named Elizabeth, came to live with the bishop (her uncle) at Wigan, and married William Bispham of Billinge. Joan Bridgeman, the second sister, married Edward Eliot, clerk, who was at one time curate of Alveton, in the county of Devon, and is described in the Herald's Visitation of Devon in 1620 as of Tavistock and then in the 56th year of his age; they had several children, of whom Ruth came to Wigan in 1628, and married Mr. Essex Clark, who was collated to a stall at Chester in 1634, and was also rector of Tilston and Dodleston. Ruth Bridgeman, another sister of the bishop, married Walter Retorick, and was dead in 1631. Lydia, who was twin with Priscilla, married Dr. Snell, as has been already stated. }} Hunt told me ye Martyn was the chiefest informer against you. Sr Kn. writt a lre to Cade; what it was I yett know not, but shall er longe