Egerton Brydges

Sir Egerton Brydges, Bt
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Born	(1762-11-30)30 November 1762 Wootton, Kent
Died	Geneva
Occupation	bibliographer, genealogist, Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1812 to 1818
Nationality	English

Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, 1st Baronet (30 November 1762 – 8 September 1837) was an English bibliographer and genealogist. He was also Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1812 to 1818.

Educated at Maidstone Grammar School and The King's School, Canterbury, Brydges was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge in 1780, though he did not take a degree. He was called to the bar from the Middle Temple in 1787. He wrote some novels and poems, now forgotten, but rendered valuable service through his bibliographical publications (printed at the Lee Priory Press), Censura Literaria, Titles and Opinions of Old English Books (10 vols. 1805–9), his editions of Edward Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum (1800), Arthur Collins's Peerage of England (1812), and of many rare Elizabethan authors. He was a founding member of the Roxburghe Club, a publishing club of wealthy bibliophiles. He was elected a Knight Grand Commander of the Equestrian, Secular, and Chapterial Order of St. Joachim in 1807, at a Chapter held in Franconia.

In 1789, the Chandos barony became dormant. Egerton Brydges attempted to claim the title, initially on behalf of his older brother Rev. Edward Tymewell Brydges, then later on his own behalf. The litigation continued from 1790 to 1803, before the claims were ultimately rejected, but he continued to style himself per legem terrae Baron Chandos of Sudeley. It seems likely that not only was the claim groundless but that the evidence was forged.

He was made a baronet on 27 December 1814. He died in Geneva.

File:Lee Priory, Kent - Google Art Project.jpg

Lee Priory; painted by John Dixon

File:Samuel Egerton Brydges, Odo count of Lingen.jpg

Some works

• What are riches ? or An examination of the definitions of this subject given by modern economists, Geneva, print. by William Fick, 1821
• Pierio Valeriano Bolzani, De litteratorum infelicitate, libri duo, editio nova curante Dom. Egerton Brydges, Bar.^t, Genevæ, Typis Gul. Fick, 1821 (87 copies)
• Res literariæ : bibliographical and critical for oct. 1820, Naples, print. by Charles-Antoine Béranger, 1821 (75 copies)
  • Id., for january 1821, Rome, print. by François Bourlié, 1821
  • Id., may 1821 to february 1822, Geneva, print. by W. Fick, 1822, (75 copies)
• The anti-critic for august 1821, and march, 1822 containning literary, not political, crticisms, and opinions, Geneva, print. by W. Fick, 1822 (75 copies)
• Polyanthea librorum vetustiorum, italicorum, gallicorum, hispanicorum, et latinorum, Genevæ, Typis G. Fick, 1822 (75 copies)
• Poemata selecta latina mediæ et infimæ ætatis, Gebenis, Typis Guill. Fick, 1822 (37 copies)
• Cimelia seu Examen criticum librorum, ex diariis literariis linguâ præcipue gallicâ ab anno 1665 usque ad annum 1792 scriptis, selectum, Genevæ, ex Typis G. Fick, 1823 (75 copies)
• Mémoire sur les lois de la pairie d'Angleterre, Genève, G. Fick, 1823
• Peerage-law or An inquiry into the laws which protect the hereditament of peerage, to which are added fragments of paper relative to a particular case, Geneva, print. by W. Fick, 1823
• Odo, count of Lingen : a poetical tale in six cantos, Geneva, print. by W. Fick, 1824 (50 copies)
• Gnomica : detached thoughts, sententious, axiomatic, moral and critical, but especially with reference to poetical faculties and habits, Geneva, print. by W. Fick, (75 copies)
• Catalogus librorum rariorum de quibus fit mentio in operibus quorum tituli sunt Cimelia, 1823, Res literariæ 1820, 1821, et Polyanthea, 1822, Genève, Impr. Fick, 1824 (200 copies)
• Lex terræ : a discussion of the law of England, regarding claims of inheritable rights of peerage, Geneva, W. Fick, 1831 (100 copies)
• Veridica. - N° 1 (1 jan. 1832) - n° 2 (14 jan. 1832), Geneva, W. Fick

References

 

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource 
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets
• J. Robins, The British Magazine, or Miscellany of Polite Literature, London, 1823, pp. 145–146.
• The Gentleman's Magazine 162 (1837), pp. 534–539.

External links

• Works by Egerton Brydges at Project Gutenberg
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Samuel Egerton Brydges
• Lee Priory Press
• The Parliamentary Archives holds letters sent to Sir Egerton Brydes by Charles Abbott and John Henry Abbott

Parliament of England
Preceded by George Longman George Simson	Member of Parliament for Maidstone 1812 – 1818 With: George Simson	Succeeded by George Longman Abraham Wildey Robarts
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baronet (of Denton Court) 1814 – 1837	Succeeded by John William Egerton-Barrett-Brydges