He was the only son of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos, who died on 18 November 1602, and Mary Hopton, who was daughter of Sir Owen Hopton. He was M.P. for Cricklade, in 1597. Brydges and his family were friendly with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. His father visited Essex at Essex House on the Sunday morning of Essex's insurrection, but he was not deemed by the government to be implicated in the conspiracy. The son, Grey Brydges, was, however, suspected of immediate complicity, and was sent to the Fleet Prison with Henry Cuffe and others; but he was soon released.
Courtier and grandee
Grey Brydges succeeded his father as Baron Chandos in 1602, attended King James I of England's initial parliament on 19 March 1604, and was made Knight of the Bath, when Prince Charles Stewart was created Duke of York in January 1605. He visited Oxford with King James I, and was granted the degree of M.A. on 30 August 1605. On 2 July 1609, he was appointed keeper of Ditton Park, Buckinghamshire, for life. He attended the funeral of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1612. Grey also took an active part in the court masques and tournaments. It was reported at court on 9 September 1613 that a duel was to be fought by him and the King's favourite, Lord James Hay. He became Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire and was called the "King of the Cotswolds", owing to his generosity and his magnificent style of living at his residence, Sudeley Castle.
Traveller
In 1608 he went travelling with Degory Wheare. In 1610 he was appointed one of the officers under Sir Edward Cecil in command of an expedition to the Low Countries, in the War of the Jülich succession. The Emperor Rudolph II's forces were besieging Juliers, and the English had combined with Holland and France to protect the town. Lord Herbert of Cherbury was Chandos's companion through this campaign. Chandos lodged at Juliers with Sir Horace Vere, but does not seem to have taken much part in the fighting. Afterwards he attended Antoine de Pluvinel's academy in Paris, and then went to Blois.
Later life
On 23 July 1612, Grey Brydges visited Spa in the Low Countries, for his health; he had been there before during the Jülich campaign. On 14 July 1616, there was some talk of making him President of Wales, and on 8 November 1617, he was appointed to receive ambassadors from Muscovy, then in England. His health was still failing, and after trying in 1618, the waters of Newenham Mills in Warwickshire, he returned to Spa, where he died suddenly on 10 August 1621, while taking in the waters there. His body was brought to Sudeley Castle, and buried there. An elegy for him was written by Sir John Beaumont.
''Horae Subsecivae''
Chandos has been regarded by Horace Walpole and others as the author of some essays, Horae Subsecivae. These were published by Edward Blount, and from topical references would appear to have been written about 1615. The attribution is moot: Michael Lort and Samuel Egerton Brydges supported Walpole's view. Anthony à Wood and White Kennett had earlier stated that Gilbert Cavendish, eldest son of William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, was the author of the work. Copies are extant with the name of Lord Chandos inscribed on the title-page in seventeenth-century handwriting. Edmond Malone and Thomas Park, the editor of Walpole, attributed the book on the grounds of Gilbert's age to William, a brother. A modern view agrees to the extent that 10 of the essays can be shown to have been written by William in 1615, at a time when Thomas Hobbes was his tutor. The published essays come as 12 shorter pieces ; and four longer ones, now attributed one to William and three to Hobbes.
Anne Brydges : she did marry, reputedly to a Mr Torteson but little is known about her later life and whether there were any issue. Issue has never been ruled out, there is little firm evidence about her life after childhood.
