Chandos

Chandos, a great English family, descended from a follower of William the Conqueror, the last representative in the direct male line being Sir John Chandos (died 1428), whose sister married one Giles Brydges. Their descendant, Sir John Brydges, was lieutenant of the Tower under Queen Mary, and was created Baron Chandos in 1554. James Brydges (1673-1744), eighth Lord Chandos, sat in parliament for Hereford from 1698 to 1714, and was created Duke of Chandos in 1719. The lucrative post of paymaster of the forces abroad (1707-12) supplied means for building a palace at Canons, near Edgware, which cost £200,000, but was torn down at the duke's death. Here Handel lived two years, and produced 'Esther.' In 1796 the title passed by marriage to the Grenvilles, till 1889 the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. See Memoir of first Duke by J. R. Robinson (1893).