Richard Bridger

Events

Date of Birth: about 1549.

Place of Place: Shipley, Sussex, England.

A 1607 list of tithes owing (cited below) gives Richard's age as 58, his place of birth as Shipley, and states that he had been living at Warminghurst about 40 years.

Date of Death: 8 May 1615.

Place of Death: Warminghurst, Sussex, England.

The date and place are given in Richard’s inquisition post mortem (Attree p. 38, no. 172).

Date of Burial: 10 May 1615.

Place of Burial: Warminghurst (Holy Sepulchre).

The burial is given by the Warminghurst Project transcription of the Warminghurst bishop’s transcripts.

Relationships

Father: John Bridger (died 1578/9).

The 1634 Visitation of Sussex (p. 156) gives Richard’s father as “John Bridger of Wormingherst in com. Sussex.”

Mother: Alice Steere (died 1561).

The 1634 Visitation of Sussex (p. 156) gives Richard’s mother as “....d. of ….Steere of Ockley in com. Surrey.” Her burial record gives her first name as Alice.

Spouse: Isabel Weller (died 1603).

This relationship is given is by Renshaw (p. 63 fn), the 1634 Visitation of Sussex (p. 156), and Dallaway (6:2:265).

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Henry Bridger (baptized 29 January 1584/5 in Warminghurst - buried August 1657 in Warminghurst) married Jane Ravenscroft (licence 6 April 1613).

Elizabeth Bridger (buried 24 May 1597 in Warminghurst).

Thomas Bridger (baptized 16 February 1589 and buried 2 June 1590 in Warminghurst).

Mary Bridger (baptized 14 February 1590 in Warminghurst).

Richard Bridger (baptized 7 June 1594 in Warminghurst).

female Bridger (baptized 25 April 1596 in Warminghurst).

Joan Bridger (buried 18 May 1604 in Warminghurst).

Evidence

from the West Sussex Record Office catalogue:

Letter from R. Wilsha to Giles Garton saying that he has been unable to visit him because of the unseasonable weather. Endorsed in a different hand about a subpoena for Richard Bridger against John Benett of Buncton in Ashington 'returnable as soone as may be'.

10 Oct 1586

Deposition book

ff.2-20 Tithe Oving 13 May 1607

Deponents:

f.126 [See also ff.122-125 Richard Bridger of Warminghurst, yeoman where he had lived about 40 years, and before at Shipley where he was born. Aged 58 years.

Witness: mark

A transcription of Richard Bridger’s will

In the name of God Amen The Third Day of Maye Anno Domni 1615 I Richard Bridger of the parish of Warmynghurst in the Countie of Sussex and in the Diocese of Chichester yeoman beinge sicke in body but of good and perfect mynde and remembrance thanks be to Allmightie God Doe make and ordayne this my last will and Testament in manner and forme here following vizt, First I give and bequeath my soule to Allmightie God my maker and Creator and to our Lord and Saviour Jhesus Christ by whose death and passion I hope to bee saved, And my body I will to be buried according to gods ordynment, Item I Doe give and bequeath to the poore people of the parishe of Shippley where I was borne five poundes in money to remayne as a stocke in Church wardens handes there beinge from tyme to tyme And to bee put to use for the benifitt of the poore people there yearlie for ever, Item I Doe give the the poore people of the parrishe of Warminghurst Tenn shillings, And to the poore people of Thakeham I Doe give Twentie Shillings Item I Doe give and bequeath to my welbeloved sonne Henry Bridger all my landes tenements and hereditaments with thappurtenances to hold to him and to the heires of his body lawfully to bee begotten, And for lacke of heires of his body lawfully to bee begotten to remayne to my right heires for ever, Item I Doe give and bequeath to Thomas Searle of ?? his fower Children five poundes a peece in money. And I Doe Give to William Sowton his Daughters ?? ?? Five poundes in money to bee payd when it shall come to the age of one and Twentie yeares. Item I Doe give to my Sister Greenes Children Five poundes a peece in money to be payd within one yeare next after my Decease, And I doe give to all my godchildren two shillings six pence a peece And all the rest of my goodes Cattles and Chattles whatsoever they bee, and of what kind or nature soever they bee I Doe give and bequeath them to my deare and loveing Sonne Herny Bridger, And I Doe make him my dole and whole Executor of this my last will and Testament, In witness hereof I have sett my hand in the presence of Hugh Welles and Edmund Greene, Richard Bridger his Marke

[proved 13 May 1615]

Attree’s notes on Richard Bridger’s inquisition post mortem

Richard Bridger, yeo. Vol. 350, No. 43.

Petworth, 5 Sept. 13 James. Died 8 May last at Warminghurst.

Heir, son Henry, aged 29.

Lands. -- Tenement and land in Ashington, tenement and garden in Sompting, "Hardborowe," Bulmans,"

and "Bothells" in Chiltington, seized of manor of Bowles late Bynes in Pulborowe, "Potland" in P., and on

10 May 11 James, in consideration of marriage between Henry B. his son and heir and Jane, daughter of

John Ravenscroft of Horsham, made a settlement.

References

Attree, F. W. T. Notes of post mortem inquisitions taken in Sussex: 1 Henry VII to 1649 and after, [1485-1649]. (London: Sussex Record Society, 1912).

Bannerman, W. Bruce (ed.), The Visitations of the County of Sussex, made and taken in the years 1530 by Thomas Benolte, Clarenceux king of arms, and 1633-4 by John Philipot, Somerset herald, and George Owen, York herald, for Sir John Burroughs, Garter, and Sir Richard St. George, Clarenceux (London: Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1905).

Dallaway, James. A history of the western division of the county of Sussex: including the rapes of Chicheser, Arundel, and Bramber, with the city of diocese of Chichester. (London: T. Bensley, 1815-32).

Renshaw, Walter Charles. Searches in the History of the Family of Byne or Bine of Sussex (London: Chiswick Press, 1913).

Snow, Martin B. Warminghurst Project. URL: http://pastfinders.com/index-warminghurst.htm (accessed 22 April 2014).

Will of Richard Bridger, Yeoman of Worminghurst, Sussex., in Church of England. Province of Canterbury. Prerogative Court. Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Probate Records, 1384-1858, National Archives: PROB 11/125/454.