Brydges, Egerton, Sir, 1762-1837

Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges was born on November 30, 1762, in Wootton, Kent, England.

He was an English bibliographer, genealogist, and author. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and The King's School, Canterbury, and was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1780. Although he did not complete his degree, he studied poetry in seclusion from his peers. He joined the Middle Temple, London, in 1782 and was called to the bar in 1787 but never practiced law. In 1795, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Despite his early forgotten literary works, such as "Sonnets and other Poems" (1785), he made valuable contributions through his bibliographical publications, including "Censura Literaria," "Titles and Opinions of Old English Books" (10 vols., 1805-1809), "Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum" (1800) and "Peerage of England" (1812). He was a founding member of the Roxburghe Club, a publishing club of affluent book collectors. In 1807, he was appointed a Knight Grand Commander of the Equestrian, Secular, and Chapterial Order of St. Joachim. In 1814, he was made a baronet. He also served as Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1812 to 1818.

In 1786, he married Elizabeth Byrche (1766/7–1796), and in 1796, he remarried Mary Robinson. He died on September 8, 1837, at Campagne Gros Jean, near Geneva, and was buried in Geneva.