Author: BRIDEL, Edmund Philip
Biography:
BRIDEL, Edmund Philip (b c. 1752-1815: Dybikowski)
Dybikowski states that Bridel was born in Chartres, France, in about 1752. His father was a lawyer but neither his name nor the name of Bridel’s mother are known. His younger brother was Eloy Philippe Bridel who published grammar books and translations in English as Bridel Arleville. In Chartres Bridel met and befriended Jacques-Pierre Brissot (1754-93), leader of the moderate Girondins during the Revolution. He earned a Doctor of Laws and married—his wife’s first name was Mary—in France before he and his brother Eloy moved to London in about 1780. Brissot followed them there in 1783. Bridel’s first publication after his move was probably L’Orateur, published by subscription and issued by T. Hookham in the 1780s (the title page has no date); it is a collection of works for English students of French. Bridel’s address is given as 15 Princes Street, near what was then called Leicester Fields in London. He subsequently published books of English grammar and established an academy at Bird’s Buildings at Islington where he rented premises from at least 1803. By all accounts Bridel was very highly regarded and he was in demand as a translator. Although there is no evidence that he was a Quaker, he translated a number of English works into French for Quakers, including the writings of William Penn. His play, The Fifth of November was written for the use of schools. A friend of David Williams, founder of the RLF, he was an early supporter and member of the Fund. He and his wife had at least five children but just three—two sons and a daughter—are mentioned in his will and were alive at the time of his death on 23 July 1815. He was buried on 29 July at St. Mary’s, Islington; his will specified that he was to be buried beside his daughter, Victoria Louisa (1790-1804). His will provided for his wife, two sons, and a married daughter (Mary Louisa Diederich Niemann). His brother was left their father’s gold watch. In July 1833 the younger son, John, applied to the RLF for relief, citing his father’s role in the Fund and his own loss of money through ‘Colombian bonds.” The application was denied. (ancestry.co.uk 27 June 2023; James C. Dybikowski, “Edmund Philip Bridel’s Translations of Quaker Writings for French Quakers,” Quaker History 77 [1988]. 110-21; GM 85 [1815], 187; RLF file 767)