author
James Bridges
d. 1865
A Scottish legal writer and political observer, he is remembered for a detailed early-19th-century study of elections, voting rolls, and parliamentary procedure in Scotland. His surviving paper trail also shows him moving in the orbit of Sir Walter Scott and Edinburgh public affairs.
1 Audiobook
Sabbath Defence Tactics: a manual
by James Bridges
About the author
James Bridges was a Scottish Writer to the Signet, a senior member of the Scottish legal profession, and he died in 1865. Modern catalog records connect him with a surviving 1827 letter from Sir Walter Scott, which suggests he was involved in the civic and legal world of Edinburgh as well as in literary circles.
He is best known as the author of View of the Political State of Scotland at Michaelmas 1811, published in 1812 and expanded in 1813. The book is a substantial survey of Scottish political life, covering freeholders, royal burgh constitutions, election votes, and the procedures used in parliamentary elections.
That combination of legal knowledge and close attention to public institutions makes his work especially valuable today. Even though little biographical detail is easy to confirm, his writing clearly preserves a careful, on-the-ground picture of Scottish political culture in the years just after 1811.