Arms of Egerton:Argent,a lion rampant gules between three pheons sable
Thomas Egerton,1st Viscount Brackley,PC (1540 –15 March 1617),known as 1st Baron Ellesmere from 1603 to 1616,was an English nobleman,judge and statesman from the Egerton family who served as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor for twenty-one years.
Thomas Egerton was born in 1540 in the parish of Dodleston,Cheshire,England. He was the illegitimate son of Sir Richard Egerton and an unmarried woman named Alice Sparks from Bickerton.[2] He was acknowledged by his father's family,who paid for his education. He studied Liberal Arts at Brasenose College,Oxford,and received a bachelor's degree in 1559. He then studied law at Lincoln's Inn and called a barrister by 1572.[3] He was a Roman Catholic,until a point in 1570 when his lack of conformity with the Church of England became an issue when his Inn passed on a complaint from the Privy Council.[4]
Solicitor General,Attorney General and Master of the Rolls
As Solicitor General,Egerton became a frequent legal advocate for the crown,often arguing cases instead of the Attorney General. Briefly,he was MP for Cheshire,1584–87. He was one of the prosecutors at the trial of Mary,Queen of Scots,in 1586 at Sheffield. He was also the prosecutor in the trial of Philip Howard,Earl of Arundel,for high treason. He was made Attorney General on 2 June 1592,he was knighted the next year. He was made Master of the Rolls on 10 April 1594 where he excelled as an equity judge and became a patron of the young Francis Bacon. After the death of the Lord Keeper Puckering he was appointed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and sworn a Privy Councillor on 6 May 1596,remaining Master of the Rolls and thus the sole judge in the Court of Chancery.
During this time his first wife died,and he married Elizabeth Wolley,the widow of Sir John Wolley,and daughter of Sir William More of Loseley,Surrey. He bought Tatton Park,in 1598. It would stay in the family for more than three centuries.[5] Also at this time (1597 or 1598) he hired John Donne as secretary. This arrangement ended in some embarrassment since Donne secretly married Ann More,Elizabeth's niece,in 1601.
Elizabeth died around the beginning of 1600,and then Egerton married Alice Spencer,whose first husband had been Ferdinando Stanley,5th Earl of Derby.[citation needed] She survived him by two decades,and was an important patron of the arts,usually known as the Dowager Countess of Derby.
At Ashridge,Hertfordshire,Thomas Egerton purchased Ashridge House,one of the largest country houses in England,from Queen Elizabeth I,who had inherited it from her father who had appropriated it after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. Ashridge House served the Egerton family as a residence until the 19th century. The Egertons later had a family chapel (the Bridgewater Chapel) with a burial vault in Little Gaddesden Church,[6] where many monuments commemorate the Dukes and Earls of Bridgewater and their families.[7]
As Lord Keeper,Egerton's judgements were admired,but Common-law judges often resented him for reversing their decisions. He also attempted to expand the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery to include the imposition of fines to enforce his injunctions. In the 9th Parliament of the reign of Elizabeth (1597–1598),he supported legal reform and the royal power to create monopolies.
In November 1599 Egerton,seeking the queen's favour,asked a courtier Michael Stanhope to give her a gift of pearls. She told Stanhope to return them to Egerton,who felt that Stanhope had let him down.[8]
Sir Thomas was a friend of Robert Devereux,2nd Earl of Essex,and often interceded to mend relations between Essex and the Queen. After Essex returned from Ireland in disgrace he was placed in the Lord Keeper's custody,under house arrest at York House,Strand.[9] He was one of the judges at Essex's first trial,and tried to persuade him to apologise and beg mercy from the Queen. He pronounced the sentence against Essex,although it was dictated by the Queen. During Essex's rebellion,he was sent to persuade Essex to surrender,but was instead held hostage for several hours until one of Essex's supporters freed him to gain pardon from the Queen.
Egerton remained in office,and King James made him Lord Chancellor and 1st Baron Ellesmere on 19 July 1603.[12] He was removed from the office of Master of the Rolls on 18 May 1603,but as the office was granted to an absentee Scottish Lord he continued to perform its duties. Shortly afterwards he presided over the trial of Barons Cobham and Grey de Wilton for high treason for their part in the Main Plot.
In the first Parliament of James I Lord Ellesmere attempted to exercise the right of the Lord Chancellor to disqualify members from sitting in the House of Commons,but in the end,yielded that right to the House itself. He attempted to persuade Parliament to support the King's plans for a union of England and Scotland,but was unsuccessful. In 1606 he ruled that Scottish subjects born after the succession of James I were naturalised English subjects.
Lord Ellesmere supported the Royal Prerogative,but was concerned to define it,and ensure it was never confused with the ordinary legal processes.[13] Towards the end of his life,he stood out against the arguments made by Sir Edward Coke,the Lord Chief Justice,and ultimately aided the King in securing his dismissal. He attempted to resign several times after this,as he became increasingly old and infirm,and the King finally accepted his resignation on 5 March 1617,after his creation as Viscount Brackley on 7 November 1616. He was promised the earldom of Bridgewater,but showed little interest,and died twelve days after leaving office on 15 March 1617. He is buried in Dodleston,Cheshire.
↑ Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: 1596–1603, vol. 4 (Oxford, 2014), pp. 174–195.
↑ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 20 (London, 1930), p. 144.
↑ Burke's 106th edition, has it as "21st July 1603" the date of creation.
↑ Glenn Burgess, The Politics of the Ancient Constitution (1992), p. 160.
Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made the Dukes of Sutherland one of the richest landowning families in the United Kingdom. The title remained in the Leveson-Gower family until the death of the 5th Duke of Sutherland in 1963, when it passed to the 5th Earl of Ellesmere from the Egerton family.
Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater,, known as Francis Egerton until 1823, was a noted British eccentric from the Egerton family and supporter of natural theology.
The title Viscount Brackley has been created twice for members of the Egerton family; once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Earl of Ellesmere, of Ellesmere in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1846 for the Conservative politician Lord Francis Egerton. He was granted the subsidiary title of Viscount Brackley, of Brackley in the County of Northampton, at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Born Lord Francis Leveson-Gower, he was the third son of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland and Elizabeth Gordon, 19th Countess of Sutherland. In 1803 his father had inherited the substantial estates of his maternal uncle Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater. On his father's death in 1833, Lord Francis succeeded to the Egerton estates according to the will of the late Duke of Bridgewater, and assumed by Royal licence the surname of Egerton in lieu of Leveson-Gower. The Brackley and Ellesmere titles created for him in 1846 were revivals of titles held by the Dukes of Bridgewater. In 1963 his great-great-grandson, the fifth Earl, succeeded his kinsman as 6th Duke of Sutherland. The earldom of Ellesmere and viscountcy of Brackley are now subsidiary titles of the dukedom.
Earl of Bridgewater was a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, once for the Daubeny family (1538) and once for the Egerton family (1617). From 1720 to 1803, the Earls of Bridgewater also held the title of Duke of Bridgewater. The 3rd Duke of Bridgewater is famously known as the "Canal Duke", for his creation of a series of canals in North West England.
Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, known as Lord Francis Egerton until 1748, was a British nobleman from the Egerton family. He was the youngest son of the 1st Duke. He did not marry, and the dukedom expired with him, although the earldom was inherited by a cousin, Lieutenant-General John Egerton.
Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland, KG, was Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Lord Treasurer of England under James I and Charles I, being one of the most influential figures in the early years of Charles I's Personal Rule and the architect of many of the policies that enabled him to rule without raising taxes through Parliament.
John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater KB PC was a British nobleman from the Egerton family.
Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, known as Viscount Brackley from 1687 to 1701 and as the 4th Earl of Bridgewater from 1701 to 1720, was a British peer, courtier and pioneering landowner.
Little Gaddesden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Berkhamsted. As well as Little Gaddesden village, the parish contains the settlements of Ashridge, Hudnall, and part of Ringshall. The total population at the 2011 Census was 1,125. Little Gaddesden is an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) and a conservation area protected by the National Trust.
John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater KB, PC was an English peer and politician from the Egerton family.
John William Egerton, 7th Earl of Bridgewater FRS, known as John Egerton until 1803, was a British cavalry officer, and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1777 to 1803 when he succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Bridgewater. He was from the Egerton family.
Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby was an English noblewoman from the Spencer family and noted patron of the arts. Poet Edmund Spenser represented her as "Amaryllis" in his eclogue Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1595) and dedicated his poem The Teares of the Muses (1591) to her.
Thomas Gerard, 1st Baron Gerard was a Staffordshire and Lancashire landowner and politician, a member of six English parliaments for three different constituencies. Although a prominent member of the Essex faction in the reign of Elizabeth I, he avoided involvement in the Essex Rebellion and received greater honours, including a peerage, in the reign of James I.
Sir Simon Weston (1565–1637) was an English Knight and politician, personal ally of the Earls of Essex, who sat in the House of Commons between 1624 and 1626. He was involved in the Earl's of Essex rebellion against Queen Elizabeth Tudor.
Sir Michael Stanhope, of Sudbourne, Suffolk, was an English politician. Stanhope was the youngest surviving son of Michael Stanhope and Anne Rawson.
Elizabeth Wolley was one of Queen Elizabeth I's ladies of the Privy Chamber. She was the eldest daughter of Sir William More of Loseley, Surrey, and his second wife, Margaret Daniell, and the wife of the Queen's Latin secretary, Sir John Wolley, and the Queen's Lord Chancellor, Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley.
The Egerton family is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Egerton family were made Dukes, Earls, knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Egerton family include the dukedoms of Bridgewater (1720–1803) and Sutherland, as well as the earldoms of Bridgewater (1617–1829), Wilton (1801–1999) and Egerton (1897–1909). Several other members of the family have also risen to prominence. The Egerton family motto is Virtuti non armis fido.
Charlotte Catherine Anne, Countess of Bridgewater, née Charlotte Haynes, was a British noblewoman. She was known for her philanthropic and charitable acts, and supported numerous educational and religious causes. She was responsible for the laying out of the ornamental gardens around her family home at Ashridge in Hertfordshire.
Frances Egerton, Countess of Bridgewater, formerly Lady Frances Stanley, was an English art patron and book collector.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
