BRYDGES, JAMES, 1ST DUKE OF CHANDOS, fourth but eldest surviving son of James Brydges, 8th Baron Chandos, Ambassador to Constantinople, and Elizabeth, eldest dau. of Sir Henry Bernard, Kt., Bridgnorth, Shropshire, Turkey merchant; b. 6 Jan 1673/4; adm. 1686; an interesting letter, written by his father from Constantinople, confides his “three poor little boys (all the treasure the kind God of his kind mercy hath spared me)” to Richard Busby (qv), then Head Master (GM 1792, i, 39); New Coll. Oxford, matr. 21 Jun 1690; FRS 30 Nov 1694; MP Hereford Jul 1698 - 16 Oct 1714; member, Council to Lord High Admiral, 29 Mar 1703 - 5 Apr 1705; Paymaster-Gen. of the Forces Abroad, 10 May 1705 – Sep 1713; succ. father as 9th Baron Chandos 16 Oct 1714; cr. Earl of Carnarvon 19 Oct 1714 and Duke of Chandos 29 Apr 1719; Lord Lieut., Herefordshire 11 Sep 1721 - 16 Jul 1741, and of Radnorshire from 11 Sep 1721; Privy Councillor 11 Nov 1721; Chancellor, Univ. of St. Andrews; the “princely” Chandos expended some £200, 000 in building his country house at Canons, near Edgware, Middlesex; Handel spent two years there composing anthems for the chapel, and writing Esther, his first English oratorio; Defoe describes the splendour of the house in his Tour through England, and Pope refers to it as “Timon’s Villa” in his Epistle to Lord Burlington; m. 1st, 27 Feb 1695/6 Mary, dau. of Sir Thomas Lake, Kt., Canons, Whitchurch, Middlesex; m. 2nd, 4 Aug 1713 Cassandra, dau. of Francis Willoughby FRS, naturalist, Wollaton, Notts. ; m. 3rd, Apr 1736 Lydia Catharine, widow of Sir Thomas Davall MP, and dau. of John Vanhatten; d. 9 Aug 1744. DNB.