Bridgewater, Francis Henry Egerton (1756–1828)

English bishop. He was the son of John Egerton, bishop of Durham, and succeeded his brother as earl in 1823. He remained unmarried and at his death the title became extinct. He bequeathed the Egerton manuscripts (on the literature of France and Italy) to the British Museum along with a sum of £12,000. He also left £8,000 to be paid to the author of the best treatise ‘On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation’.

The president of the Royal Society divided the money among eight individuals for eight separate treatises, as follows: (1) The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man (1833) by Thomas Chalmers; (2) Chemistry, Meteorology and Digestion (1834) by William Prout; (3) History, Habits and Instincts of Animals (1835) by William Kirby; (4) Geology and Mineralogy (1837) by Dean Buckland; (5) The Hand, as evincing Design (1837) by Charles Bell; (6) The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man (1837) by John Kidd; (7) Astronomy and General Physics (1839) by William Whewell; and (8) Animal and Vegetable Physiology (1840) by Peter Mark Roget.