BORN 1609, DIED 1674.
By Riley.
THE son of Dr. John Bridgeman, Bishop of Chester, by Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Helyar, Canon of Exeter, and Archdeacon of Barnstaple. Educated by his father until he went to Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he took his degree of B.A. in 1623. The following year he entered the Inner Temple, and applied himself vigorously to the study of common law, ‘of which he became,’ says Lord Campbell, ‘a profound master, caring little in comparison for either literature or politics.’ When called to the bar he made himself remarkable for his diligent attention to business, although he had the expectation of a goodly inheritance from his father. At the commencement of the Long Parliament Orlando Bridgeman was returned for the borough of Wigan in Lancashire. He voted silently, but, with the exception of some measures on which he had conscientious scruples, almost invariably for the King. He was also one of the few who voted against the attainder of Lord Strafford, in whose behalf he made a short but manly appeal. When the civil war broke out Orlando did not indeed, as was the case with several lawyers, throw aside the gown for the sword; but he went into the north, and in the city of Chester, and elsewhere, did the King good service by affording the royal troops all the assistance in his power, in cooperation with his father, the Bishop of the diocese. Clarendon tells us how ‘the city of Chester remained true to his Majesty, influenced thereto by the credit and example of Bishop John Bridgeman, and the reputation and dexterity of his son Orlando, a lawyer of very good estimation.’ For these proofs of loyalty Bridgeman was expelled the House of Commons, and the Bishop’s estates sequestrated. But when Charles summoned the members of both Houses that had been faithful to him, to his own Parliament at Oxford, Orlando Bridgeman took his seat as member for Wigan, in Christchurch Hall, and was there nominated by patent (sealed by Lord-Keeper Lyttleton) to the post of Attorney-General of the Court of Wards and Liveries, ‘an office,’ says Lord Campbell, ‘when actually exercised, of great importance and emolument, but now a mere feather in his cap, which Parliament would not allow him to wear in their sight. At the time of the Treaty of Uxbridge, Bridgeman was chosen one of the Commissioners, and was thereto designated by his new title, but the potentates of Westminster would not acknowledge the appointment as valid, and treated him as plain Orlando Bridgeman.’ When Oxford capitulated to Fairfax, he retired to his country house at Morton, where he was joined by the Bishop, and afterwards he proceeded privately to London.
During the interregnum he refused to put on his gown or to plead, but contented himself with acting as a conveyancer or chamber counsel. Yet we are informed that he took great note of passing events, whether judicial or political, and though he prudently abstained from any small plot hatching in the King’s name, which he considered would be prejudicial to the royal cause, yet to the great measures which affected the Restoration our lawyer gave his strong adherence, and rejoiced in the return of Charles the Second to England. He had quick promotion, being made Serjeant-at-Law, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and Speaker of the House of Lords in the absence of the Lord Chancellor. His conduct on the trial of the regicides has naturally been differently judged, according to the bias of party feeling, but at all events his eloquence in charging the jury was highly extolled at the time, and when he had concluded the applause was so great that Judge Bridgeman felt himself called upon to check the expression thereof, saying, ‘that it was more suitable for the audience of a stage-play rather than a court of justice.’ His language indeed was rather fantastic and flowery, but that was the fashion at the time. He explained that ‘the treason of the prisoners consisted not only in compassing and imagining the King’s death, but in executing him in front of his own palace; in fact, not only laying the cockatrice’s egg, but brooding upon the same, until it had brought forth a serpent!’ On the expiration of the trials, Bridgeman was made a Baronet and Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas; and it was said of him that while presiding in this Court his reputation was at its zenith, and ‘his moderation and equity were such that he seemed to carry a chancery in his breast.’ In the intrigues which were being carried on against Lord Clarendon, Sir Orlando took no part; indeed his conduct was invariably marked by generosity towards the man whom he was destined to supplant, and he did all in his power to prevent the Chancellor’s impeachment. In 1667 he was appointed Lord-Keeper at the instigation of some of the King’s advisers, male and female, and it was whispered among his enemies that in that capacity he was at first more complaisant than his predecessor in affixing the great seal to royal grants, in favour of such personages as Lady Castlemaine, and others of her calibre. Be this as it may, the atrocious proceedings of the Cabal roused the Lord-Keeper into resistance, and the opposition he offered to these unscrupulous men hastened his downfall. His own family were also most prejudicial to his prosperity, his wife being an ‘intriguer and intermeddler,’ combining with his sons in matters with which they had no concern. Bridgeman was losing favour at Court; he had lately made himself obnoxious to the King and his surroundings by opposing many of their measures, and when he refused to confirm the Act of Toleration on the ground of illegality, Lord Shaftesbury hastened to Charles’s presence bent on mischief, for that nobleman had long had his eyes greedily directed towards the Great Seal, and he became very eloquent in counting up all Sir Orlando’s misdemeanours, ending by his disinterested advice for that minister’s instant dismissal. Charles took a little time to be persuaded, but after a while he sent off secretary Coventry to demand the bone of contention from the Lord-Keeper. Bridgeman was all unprepared for the hasty and peremptory message, but he had no option, and the Great Seal was delivered to the royal messenger. Charles kept it in his own custody all night, and the next morning consigned it with the title of Lord Chancellor into the willing hands of Anthony Ashley Cooper. After his dismissal from office Sir Orlando retired to his villa near Teddington, where he died, and was buried. He was twice married—first to Judith, daughter and heir of John Kynaston, Esq. of Morton, County Salop, who died at Oxford, during the usurpation, and was there buried. He had an only son, Sir John Bridgeman, his successor. Sir Orlando had for his second wife, Dorothy, daughter of Dr. Saunders, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, and relict of George Cradock, Esq. of Carsewell Castle, County Stafford, by whom he had two sons and one daughter, namely, Sir Orlando, created a Baronet; Sir Francis, knighted in 1673, who married Susanna, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Barker, Knight, but had no children; and Charlotte, married to Sir Thomas Myddleton of Chirk Castle.
As must invariably be the case with men in prominent positions, more especially in times of great civil, religious, and political struggles, Sir Orlando Bridgeman’s character was by turns eulogised and blamed; in spite of his loyal services to Charles the First, that King found occasion to censure his faithful servant at the time of the Treaty of Uxbridge, on a question of religion, ‘having,’ said his Majesty, ‘expected otherwise from the son of a Bishop.’ Yet Sir Orlando was a staunch Churchman. Burnet’s testimony was merely to his judicial capacity. He said: ‘Bridgeman’s practice was so entirely in common law that he did not seem to understand what equity was.’ Roger North said: ‘He was a celebrated lawyer, and sat with high esteem in the place of Chief-Justice of Common Pleas: the moving him then to the Chancery did not contribute to his fame’; while elsewhere we are told ‘he carried a chancery in his breast.’ ‘He grew timorous, which was not mended by age; he laboured to please everybody, and that is a temper of ill consequence in a judge.’ On the other hand, Lord Nottingham writes: ‘It is due to the memory of so great a man to mention him with reverence and veneration for his learning and integrity.’ While Lord Ellenborough extols him as an eminent judge, distinguished by the profundity of his learning and the extent of his industry. At all events, there is no doubt that the name of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Lord-Keeper of the Great Seal, continues to be honoured, not only in the annals of his own family, but in the learned profession of the Law.
No. 5. JOHN BRIDGEMAN, BISHOP OF CHESTER, FATHER OF THE LORD-KEEPER.
Black gown and ruff. Shield episcopal. Arms of Chester, impaling
Bridgeman. Dated 1616. Aged 41.