One of the bishop's sons[1] about this time went into the army and joined the King's troops at Dublin, as appears by the following letter from Sir George Radcliffe to the bishop from Dublin:
"My very good lorde
All I can rettume for yr Lps free and bountifull entertainment is my humble thankes, and a ready minde to serve yu wch is yr Lps due & my debt.
On Saturday night wee came to sea, and had landed here ye next day by two or 3 of ye clocke had not ye darkenes of ye day made us fearefull to make ye land wch wee could not discerne. Plying therefore to and fro, a storme arose wch might well have beaten us backe againe into Wales; but the windes growing a little more calme, wee at length, about 10 or 11 a clock in ye night, wee recov'ed Skirres [Skirries], a place 12 miles hence, & so came to shore all safe, God be praysed, though many of ye company well wett with the storme. At ye brere house Mr. Bridgeman, yr Lps sonne, was goeing on board Welsh's barge; but it was so full of passingers as that I sent for him to come wth me; and by that meanes he gained Dublin a little sooner; for Welsh (as I heare) is arrived at
Carlingford, 40 miles off this place. I shall be glad of a good occasion to give yor Lp some further account of Mr. Bridgeman's entertainment in this army, in wch I finde my Lo: Deputy very inclinable to further- ↑ James Bridgeman, fourth surviving son of the bishop, who had been educated for six years at Wigan school under Mr. Rendall, was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge on 7th December, 1631 (Admissions to St. John's College, Cambridge, printed), which he left at Christmas, 1633. In 1636 he was apparently living in London, and the bishop complains that he would take no calling upon him. In the following year he was travelling "beyond sea," and subsequently in Scotland, from whence he returned in 1639. In that year he joined the army in Dublin, and served in the King's wars. He was afterwards knighted, and left issue by his wife, Anne Allen, one son, James Bridgeman, who died unmarried; and three daughters, Frances, wife of William, third Lord Howard of Escrick, by whom she was mother of Charles the last Lord Howard of Escrick, and five other children, who all died without issue; Magdalen, wife of William Winde, Esq.; and Anne Bridgeman, who died unmarried. Frances, Lady Howard, who was the second daughter of Sir James Bridgeman, died in 1716, and was buried in the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, Richmond, Surrey.
