(George Bridges), Lord Rodney, was born in the year 1718. Of the place of his birth and the rank of his ancestors we have not been able to procure any well authenticated account. His father was a naval officer; and commanding, at the time of his son's birth, the yacht in which the king, attended by the Duke of Chandos, was passing to or from Hanover, he asked and obtained leave to have the honour of calling his infant for George Bridges. The royal and noble godfathers advised Captain Rodney to educate his boy for his own profession, promising, as we have been told, to promote him as rapidly as the merit he should display and the regulations of the navy would permit.

Of young Rodney's early exertions in the service of his country, nothing, however, is known to the writer of this abstract, nor, indeed, any thing of sufficient importance to be inferred in articles so circumscribed as all our biographical sketches must be, till 1751, when we find him, in the rank of a Commodore, sent out to make make accurate discoveries respecting an island which was supposed to lie about 50° N. L., and about 300 leagues W. of England; but he returned without having seen any such island as that which he was appointed to survey. In the war which soon followed this voyage of discovery, he was promoted to the rank of a rear-admiral, and was employed to bombard Havre-de-Grace; which in 1759 and 1760 he considerably damaged, together with some shipping. In 1761 he was sent on an expedition against Martinique, which was reduced in the beginning of the year 1762, and about the same time St Lucia surrendered to Captain Harvey. Both these islands were restored to the French at the peace of 1763.

In reward for his services, he was created a knight of the Bath; but being inattentive, as many seamen are, to the rules of economy, his circumstances became so embarrassed that he was obliged to fly from his country, with very slight hopes of ever being able to return. He was in France when the ill-advised policy of that court made them take a decided part with America against Great Britain; and it is said that some men in power, no strangers to the desperate state of Sir George's affairs, offered him a high command in the French navy, if he would carry arms against his own country. This offer he rejected with becoming indignation. Soon after this gallant behaviour, the Duke de Chartres, afterwards the infamous Orleans, told Sir George that he was to have a command in the fleet which was to be opposed to that under the command of his countryman Mr Keppel; and with an insulting air asked him what he thought would be the consequence of their meeting? "That my countryman will carry your Highnesses with him to learn English," was the high-spirited reply.

When the divisions, which the mutual recriminations of Admiral Keppel and Sir Hugh Palliser excited in the British navy, made it difficult for the ministry to procure experienced, and at the same time popular, commanders for their fleets, Lord Sandwich wrote to Sir George Bridges Rodney, offering him a principal command; but the difficulty was for the veteran to find money to pay his accounts in France, so that he might be permitted to leave that kingdom. The money, it has been repeatedly affirmed, was advanced to him by the courtiers whose offer he had before indignantly rejected. He arrived, therefore, in England, and was again employed in the service of his country. His first exploit after his appointment was in January 1780, when he took 19 Spanish transports bound to Cadiz from Bilboa, together with a 64 gun ship and 5 frigates, their convoy. On the 16th of the same month he fell in with the Spanish fleet, consisting of 11 sail of the line, under the command of Don Juan de Langara; of which one was blown up during the engagement, five were taken and carried into Gibraltar, among which was the admiral's ship, and the rest were much shattered. In April the same year, he fell in with the French fleet, under the command of Admiral Guichen, at Martinico, whom he obliged to fight, and whom he completely beat; though from the shattered state of his own fleet, and the unwillingness of the enemy to risk another action, he took none of their ships. The successful efforts of our gallant admiral during the year 1780 were generally applauded through the nation. He received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and addresses of thanks from various parts of Great Britain, and the islands to which his victories were more particularly serviceable. In December the same year, he made an attempt, together with General Vaughan, on St Vincent's, but failed. In 1781, he continued his exertions, with much success, in defending the West India islands; and, along with the above named general, he conquered St Eustatius; on which occasion his conduct to the inhabitants has been much, though perhaps unjustly, censured. The island was certainly a nest of contraband traders.

On the 12th of April 1782, he came to a close action with the French fleet under Count de Graffé; during which he sunk one ship and took five, of which the admiral's ship, the Ville de Paris, was one. The following year brought peace; but, as a reward for his numerous services, he had a grant of £2000 a-year for himself and his two successors. He had long before been created a baronet, was rear-admiral of Great Britain, and at length was justly promoted to the peerage, by the title of Baron Rodney of Stoke, Somersetshire, and made vice-admiral of Great Britain. He was once also governor of Greenwich Hospital.

Lord Rodney had been twice married; first to the sister of the Earl of Northampton, and secondly to the daughter of John Clies, Esq.; with whom he did not reside for several years before his death, which happened on the 24th of May 1792. He was succeeded in title and estates by his son George, who married in 1784 Martha, daughter of the Right Hon. Alderman Harley, by whom he has issue.

Of the private life of Lord Rodney we know but little. His attention to the wants of the seamen, and the warrant officers serving under him, indicated that humanity which is always allied to true courage. He has often, from the number of dishes which his rank brought to his table, selected something very plain for himself, and sent the rest to the midshipmen's messes. His public transactions will transmit his name with honour to posterity; his bravery was unquestionable, and his success has been seldom equalled. It has, indeed, been very generally said, that his skill in naval tactics was not great, and that he was indebted to the superior abilities of Capt. Young and Sir Charles Douglas for the manoeuvres by which he was so successful against Langara and De Graffé. But, supposing this to be true, it detracts not from his merit. A weak or foolish commander could not always make choice of the ablest officers for his first captains, nor would such a man be guided by their advice.

Whatever was Lord Rodney's skill in the science of naval war, or however much he may have been beholden to the counsels of others, he certainly possessed himself the distinguished merit of indefatigable exertion; for he never omitted anything within the compass of his power to bring the enemy to action. He therefore unquestionably deserves the respect and the gratitude of his country. In the year 1783 the House of Assembly in Jamaica voted £1000 towards erecting a marble statue to him, as a mark of their gratitude and veneration for his gallant services, so timely and gloriously performed for the salvation of that island in particular, as well as the whole of the British West India islands and trade in general. We have not, however, heard of any such tribute being paid to him in Britain either before or since his death.