Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Major General Sir William Brereton Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet (13 September 1604 – 7 April 1661) was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1659. He was a commander in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.

Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Parliamentary career 3 Military career 4 Later career 5 Family 6 References 7 Footnotes Early life[edit] Brereton was the son of William Brereton and was baptised at Collegiate Church, Manchester, in 1604. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 2 November 1621, aged 18 and was a student of Gray's Inn in 1623. He was then of Handforth Hall, Cheshire.[1] He worked hard to increase the value of his estates. For example he was interested in field sports and built a duck decoy at Dodleston which became something of a commercial operation. He was created a baronet on 10 March 1627.

Parliamentary career[edit] In 1628 Brereton was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheshire and sat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[2] In the summer of 1634 Brereton visited Holland and the Seventeen Provinces and wrote a detailed account of his travels. He took a keen interest in military matters and studied siege warfare there at first hand. In the following year from 11 June to 4 August he journeyed through north eastern England to lowland Scotland and thence to Ireland, returning to land in England at Minehead from where he made his way back to Chester. In other years he journeyed in France and other parts of England although his records of the journeys have been lost.

In April 1640, Brereton was re-elected MP for Cheshire in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected for the Long Parliament in November 1640.[2] He took a stand against King Charles by organising a petition, said to contain over 1000 signatures, directed against episcopacy - rule of the Church by bishops.

Military career[edit] In 1642, Brereton joined the Parliamentarian forces, and in March 1643 was appointed Commander-in-Chief for Parliament's army in Cheshire, where he quickly established a formidable intelligence network of spies and agents. He defeated the Royalists at the First Battle of Middlewich on 13 March[3] and established his Cheshire headquarters at Nantwich. In 1643, when Parliament's cause floundered elsewhere, Brereton stood out as a success, establishing Parliamentary dominance in Cheshire. With success came attention from the Royalists. More Cavaliers entered Cheshire to counter Brereton's forces and in late 1643 he suffered his only major defeat at the Second Battle of Middlewich. The Royalists were unable to press home the initiative however and in January 1644 Lord Byron's Royalists were routed by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Brereton at the Battle of Nantwich.

After some time in London, Brereton returned to Cheshire. He was one of three officers (the other two being Sir Thomas Middleton (soldier)[citation needed] and Oliver Cromwell) specifically exempted by Parliament from the provisions of the Self-denying Ordinance. Brereton turned his attentions to besieging Chester, a Royalist stronghold. Byron, now Governor of the City, held out until February 1646, but finally had to capitulate. Brereton played an important role in the first civil war's final major pitched Battle at Stow-on-the-Wold, but thereafter faded into the background vis-a-vis military matters.

Later career[edit] Brereton survived Pride's Purge in 1648 and although he was one of the commissioners on the trial of the king, he did not act. He was present in the restored Rump Parliament in 1659.

Brereton died at the age of 56. A series of letter books survive in which he preserved copies of letters he wrote, especially during the English Civil War.

Family[edit] Sir William Brereton married as his first wife Susanna, daughter of Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, Baronet. By her Brereton had Sir Thomas, his only son and successor in the baronetcy, and three daughters: Frances, wife of Edward Ward, 10th Baron Dudley and 2nd Baron Ward; Susanna, who married Edmund Lenthall, son of Sir John Lenthall; and Catherine, who died unmarried. Brereton's second wife was Cicely, daughter of Sir William Skeffington, Baronet, of Staffordshire. They had a daughter, Cicely, who became the wife of Edward, 4th Earl of Meath.

In 1699, a family dispute broke out between these heirs, when Susanna Brereton's daughter Mary, who had married John Levett Esq., a barrister of the Inner Temple, London, petitioned the House of Lords in London on behalf of Edward Ward, 11th Baron Dudley and 3rd Baron Ward, who was an infant when his father died, and whose guardianship had been held by Edward, Earl of Meath, and his wife, who was the aunt of the infant lord.[4][5]

References[edit] Travels in Holland, The United Provinces, England, Scotland, and Ireland, by Sir William Brereton, ed. Edward Hawkins, The Chetham Society 1844 Footnotes[edit] Jump up ^ 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Braly-Bruer', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 171-200. Date accessed: 9 June 2011 ^ Jump up to: a b Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 .... London. pp. 229–239. Jump up ^ Garry Scott, Major James Lothian: A short history of a Scots professional soldier in Cheshire on the ScotsWars web site Jump up ^ Ward and Levett vs. Earl of Meath, House of Lords, 1699, British History Online Jump up ^ Sir William Brereton, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, William Salt Archaeological Society, 1880 Parliament of England Preceded by Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt Peter Daniel Member of Parliament for Cheshire 1628–1629 With: Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt Succeeded by Parliament suspended until 1640 Preceded by Parliament suspended since 1629 Member of Parliament for Cheshire 1640–1653 With: Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet 1640 Peter Venables 1640-1644 George Booth 1646-1653 Succeeded by Robert Duckenfield Henry Birkenhead Preceded by John Bradshaw Richard Legh Member of Parliament for Cheshire 1659 With: Sir George Booth, Bt Succeeded by Sir George Booth, Bt Sir Thomas Mainwaring, Bt Baronetage of England Preceded by (new creation) Baronet (of Hanford) 1627–1661 Succeeded by Thomas Brereton Categories: 1604 births1661 deathsRoundheadsBaronets in the Baronetage of EnglandEnglish politiciansEnglish travel writers17th-century English writersEnglish letter writersEnglish MPs 1628–29English MPs 1640 (April)English MPs 1640–48 (up to Pride's Purge)English MPs 1648–53 (Rump)

Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet (13 September 1604 – 7 April 1661) was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1659. He was a commander in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.

Early life

Brereton was the son of William Brereton and was baptised at Collegiate Church, Manchester, in 1604. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 2 November 1621, aged 18 and was a student of Gray's Inn in 1623. He was then of Handforth Hall, Cheshire. He worked hard to increase the value of his estates. For example he was interested in field sports and built a duck decoy at Dodleston which became something of a commercial operation. He was created a baronet on 10 March 1627.

Parliamentary career

In 1628 Brereton was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheshire and sat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[2] In the summer of 1634 Brereton visited Holland and the Seventeen Provinces and wrote a detailed account of his travels. He took a keen interest in military matters and studied siege warfare there at first hand. In the following year from 11 June to 4 August he journeyed through north eastern England to lowland Scotland and thence to Ireland, returning to land in England at Minehead from where he made his way back to Chester. In other years he journeyed in France and other parts of England although his records of the journeys have been lost.

In April 1640, Brereton was re-elected MP for Cheshire in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected for the Long Parliament in November 1640.[2] He took a stand against King Charles by organising a petition, said to contain over 1000 signatures, directed against episcopacy - rule of the Church by bishops.

Military career

In 1642, Brereton joined the Parliamentarian forces, and in March 1643 was appointed Commander-in-Chief for Parliament's army in Cheshire, where he quickly established a formidable intelligence network of spies and agents. He defeated the Royalists at the First Battle of Middlewich on 13 March[3] and established his Cheshire headquarters at Nantwich. In 1643, when Parliament's cause floundered elsewhere, Brereton stood out as a success, establishing Parliamentary dominance in Cheshire. With success came attention from the Royalists. More Cavaliers entered Cheshire to counter Brereton's forces and in late 1643 he suffered his only major defeat at the Second Battle of Middlewich. The Royalists were unable to press home the initiative however and in January 1644 Lord Byron's Royalists were routed by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Brereton at the Battle of Nantwich.

After some time in London, Brereton returned to Cheshire. He was one of three officers (the other two being Sir Thomas Middleton (soldier) and Oliver Cromwell) specifically exempted by Parliament from the provisions of the Self-denying Ordinance. Brereton turned his attentions to besieging Chester, a Royalist stronghold. Byron, now Governor of the City, held out until February 1646, but finally had to capitulate. Brereton played an important role in the first civil war's final major pitched Battle at Stow-on-the-Wold, but thereafter faded into the background vis-a-vis military matters.

Later career

Brereton survived Pride's Purge in 1648 and although he was one of the commissioners on the trial of the king, he did not act. He was present in the restored Rump Parliament in 1659.

Brereton died at the age of 56. A series of letter books survive in which he preserved copies of letters he wrote, especially during the English Civil War.

Family

Sir William Brereton married as his first wife Susanna, daughter of Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, Baronet. By her Brereton had Sir Thomas, his only son and successor in the baronetcy, and three daughters: Frances, wife of Edward Ward, 10th Baron Dudley and 2nd Baron Ward; Susanna, who married Edmund Lenthall, son of Sir John Lenthall; and Catherine, who died unmarried. Brereton's second wife was Cicely, daughter of Sir William Skeffington, Baronet, of Staffordshire. They had a daughter, Cicely, who became the wife of Edward, 4th Earl of Meath.

In 1699, a family dispute broke out between these heirs, when Susanna Brereton's daughter Mary, who had married John Levett Esq., a barrister of the Inner Temple, London, petitioned the House of Lords in London on behalf of Edward Ward, 11th Baron Dudley and 3rd Baron Ward, who was an infant when his father died, and whose guardianship had been held by Edward, Earl of Meath, and his wife, who was the aunt of the infant lord.

————-

Sir William Brereton, 1604-61

From Biography of Sir WIlliam Brereton

Energetic commander of Parliamentarian forces in Cheshire and the north-western counties during the English Civil War

Portrait of Sir William Brereton The eldest son of William Brereton of Handforth in Cheshire, he inherited substantial estates in Cheshire on the death of his parents around 1610. After attending Oxford and Gray's Inn, Brereton emerged as an energetic magistrate in Cheshire during the 1620s and '30s. He was made a baronet in 1627, travelled extensively in Europe and acquired property in New England. Although Brereton failed to win a seat in the election for the Parliament of 1625, he was elected MP for Cheshire in 1628 and 1640. As a staunch Puritan, he advocated root and branch reform of the Anglican church.

Brereton was commissioned by Parliament to supervise the transportation of troops and supplies from Cheshire to Ireland to suppress the Irish Uprising in 1641. On the outbreak of civil war in England, he tried to seize Chester for Parliament, but was driven out by Royalist citizens. He returned to Cheshire in January 1643 and defeated Sir Thomas Aston at Nantwich on 28 January, which he then fortified and held as Parliament's headquarters in Cheshire. Appointed commander-in-chief of Parliament's forces in Cheshire, Shropshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire, Brereton developed an effective network of spies and agents and conducted a relentless military campaign against the Royalists in the region.

In alliance with Sir Thomas Myddelton, Brereton seized territory in Shropshire during September and October 1643, defeated the Royalist commander Lord Capel and confined his forces in Shrewsbury. Brereton and Myddelton then advanced into north Wales, capturing Wrexham and several castles on the western side of the Dee estuary, thus threatening to blockade the Royalist stronghold of Chester. However, Brereton's forces were driven back into Cheshire by the arrival of the first wave of the King's reinforcements from Ireland. The King ordered Lord Byron to secure Cheshire for the Royalists, and Brereton was defeated at Middlewich on 26 December 1643. The following month, however, Sir Thomas Fairfax led a force of Yorkshire Parliamentarians across the Pennines to join forces with Brereton and defeat Byron's Royalists at the battle of Nantwich (25 January 1644).

From the autumn of 1644, Brereton was occupied with the long-drawn-out siege of Chester, which was defended by Lord Byron. The siege was so important to the Parliamentarian cause that Brereton was one of the few commanders allowed to retain both his military command and his seat in Parliament after the Self-Denying Ordinance of April 1645. After the surrender of Chester in January 1646, Brereton was involved in mopping up Royalist resistance in his region. Sir Jacob Astley surrendered the last Royalist field army to Brereton at Stow-on-the-Wold in March 1646.

After the First Civil War was over, Brereton was richly rewarded for his services to Parliament. He was given Eccleshall Castle in Staffordshire and acquired Croydon Palace, the former home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, Brereton's enthusiasm for public life seems to have rapidly waned. He declined to sit as one of the King's judges in January 1649 and played little part in events during the Commonwealth and Protectorate. At the Restoration, Croydon Palace was returned to Archbishop Juxon, but Brereton was allowed to remain there as a tenant until his death in April 1661.

Brereton married twice. His first wife, Susannah, was the daughter of Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey in Cheshire. She died in 1637, leaving one son, Thomas. In 1641, Brereton married Cecily, the daughter of Sir William Skeffington of Leicestershire and widow of Edward Mytton of Weston in Staffordshire. Brereton's second marriage doubled his land and property holdings and produced two daughters.

Sources:

John Morrill, Sir William Brereton, Oxford DNB, 2004

Harold Forster, Sir William Brereton 1604 -1661 (Orders of the day, Volume 33, Issue 6, 2001/2002)

Links:

The Brereton family website

Brereton's diary The Diary Review

Travels of Sir WIlliam Brereton in Ireland 1635 Corpus of Electronic Texts

Sir William Brereton, 1604-61

From Biography of Sir WIlliam Brereton

Energetic commander of Parliamentarian forces in Cheshire and the north-western counties during the English Civil War

Portrait of Sir William Brereton The eldest son of William Brereton of Handforth in Cheshire, he inherited substantial estates in Cheshire on the death of his parents around 1610. After attending Oxford and Gray's Inn, Brereton emerged as an energetic magistrate in Cheshire during the 1620s and '30s. He was made a baronet in 1627, travelled extensively in Europe and acquired property in New England. Although Brereton failed to win a seat in the election for the Parliament of 1625, he was elected MP for Cheshire in 1628 and 1640. As a staunch Puritan, he advocated root and branch reform of the Anglican church.

Brereton was commissioned by Parliament to supervise the transportation of troops and supplies from Cheshire to Ireland to suppress the Irish Uprising in 1641. On the outbreak of civil war in England, he tried to seize Chester for Parliament, but was driven out by Royalist citizens. He returned to Cheshire in January 1643 and defeated Sir Thomas Aston at Nantwich on 28 January, which he then fortified and held as Parliament's headquarters in Cheshire. Appointed commander-in-chief of Parliament's forces in Cheshire, Shropshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire, Brereton developed an effective network of spies and agents and conducted a relentless military campaign against the Royalists in the region.

In alliance with Sir Thomas Myddelton, Brereton seized territory in Shropshire during September and October 1643, defeated the Royalist commander Lord Capel and confined his forces in Shrewsbury. Brereton and Myddelton then advanced into north Wales, capturing Wrexham and several castles on the western side of the Dee estuary, thus threatening to blockade the Royalist stronghold of Chester. However, Brereton's forces were driven back into Cheshire by the arrival of the first wave of the King's reinforcements from Ireland. The King ordered Lord Byron to secure Cheshire for the Royalists, and Brereton was defeated at Middlewich on 26 December 1643. The following month, however, Sir Thomas Fairfax led a force of Yorkshire Parliamentarians across the Pennines to join forces with Brereton and defeat Byron's Royalists at the battle of Nantwich (25 January 1644).

From the autumn of 1644, Brereton was occupied with the long-drawn-out siege of Chester, which was defended by Lord Byron. The siege was so important to the Parliamentarian cause that Brereton was one of the few commanders allowed to retain both his military command and his seat in Parliament after the Self-Denying Ordinance of April 1645. After the surrender of Chester in January 1646, Brereton was involved in mopping up Royalist resistance in his region. Sir Jacob Astley surrendered the last Royalist field army to Brereton at Stow-on-the-Wold in March 1646.

After the First Civil War was over, Brereton was richly rewarded for his services to Parliament. He was given Eccleshall Castle in Staffordshire and acquired Croydon Palace, the former home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, Brereton's enthusiasm for public life seems to have rapidly waned. He declined to sit as one of the King's judges in January 1649 and played little part in events during the Commonwealth and Protectorate. At the Restoration, Croydon Palace was returned to Archbishop Juxon, but Brereton was allowed to remain there as a tenant until his death in April 1661.

Brereton married twice. His first wife, Susannah, was the daughter of Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey in Cheshire. She died in 1637, leaving one son, Thomas. In 1641, Brereton married Cecily, the daughter of Sir William Skeffington of Leicestershire and widow of Edward Mytton of Weston in Staffordshire. Brereton's second marriage doubled his land and property holdings and produced two daughters.

Sources:

John Morrill, Sir William Brereton, Oxford DNB, 2004

Harold Forster, Sir William Brereton 1604 -1661 (Orders of the day, Volume 33, Issue 6, 2001/2002)

Links:

The Brereton family website

Brereton's diary The Diary Review

Travels of Sir WIlliam Brereton in Ireland 1635 Corpus of Electronic Texts