Ralph Brideoake

Ralph Brideoake (1612/13–1678) was an English clergyman, who became Bishop of Chichester. Life Born in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, and baptised on 31 January 1612 (NS 1613) at the Collegiate Church, Manchester, Brideoake graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford with a BA in 1634, and made a MA by Charles I of England in 1636. During the 1630s, Brideoake attempted to write poetry. Beginning in 1638, Brideoake was High Master at Manchester Free School, but lost the position because of his Royalist affiliation. He became chaplain to James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, a Royalist leader, and was besieged at Lathom House (near Ormskirk, Lancashire) with Stanley's family in 1644. He interceded, unsuccessfully, with William Lenthall, Speaker of Parliament, for a stay of the execution of the captured Earl, in 1651. Brideoake then became chaplain to Lenthall.