Sir John Egerton, MP

Family and Education b. 1551, 1st s. of Sir John Egerton of Egerton and Oulton by Jane, da. of Piers Mostyn of Talacre, Flints. m. (1) Margaret, da. of Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton, Cheshire, 5s. 6da.; (2) aft. Feb. 1598, Anne, da. of Robert Barnard, wid. of Francis Trappes, s.p. suc. fa. 1591. Kntd. 1599.

Offices Held J.p.q. Cheshire by 1587, custos rot. by 1601; j.p. Staffs. by 1559, q. by 1601, commr. musters 1601; high steward, Tamworth 1602.

Biography Descended in the senior line of the family, Egerton was a Cheshire man, who, after succeeding his father, bought the Wrinehill estate in Staffordshire from his cousin Edward Egerton. He was hardly of knight of the shire status, but the Dudley faction in the county had been discredited by the 1597 disputed election, and the Essex party had been eliminated by the rebellion of February 1601 and Essex’s own execution. Egerton was named to the main business committee (3 Nov. 1601), and to committees on the abbreviation of the Michaelmas law term (11 Nov.) and the clerk of the market (9 Dec.). As a knight of the shire he might also have attended the monopolies committee appointed on 23 Nov.

Egerton became high steward of Tamworth through the mediation of Lord Buckhurst, the treasurer, displacing and thus antagonizing the hereditary steward, Sir Humphrey Ferrers. Egerton was also at odds with the 6th Earl of Derby over the lease of Bidston park, Cheshire. A lawsuit between them over this lasted for years. Egerton died 28 Apr. 1614.

Ormerod, Cheshire, ii(1), 299; ii(2), 628-9; J. C. Wedgwood, Staffs. Parl. Hist. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), i. 408; Staffs. Q. Sess. Rolls (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), iv. 143; Lansd. 53, f. 180; C66/1549; APC, xxxi. 147; Erdeswick’s Surv. Staffs. 90; D’Ewes, 624, 649, 663, 635; HMC Hatfield, xii. 286, 441, 486-7; CSP Dom. Add. 1580-1625, p. 480; C142/401/104; Wards 7/65/91; PCC 65 Meade.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: J.E.M. Notes 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament. 2. Ibid.