Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley, 1615 (oil on canvas)

Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley (1540-1617). Three-quarter-length portrait of a man, seated, turned slightly to the left, gazing at the spectator, wearing scarlet velvet ermine-lined judicial robes and black hat, as Lord Chancellor, his purse of office on the table beside him at the right. He held the office of Lord Chancellor, from 1603 until his death. One of his daughters, Vere, married William Booth (d.1636). This portrait is described in an inventory of 1769 as having been copied by Wright. Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley was the natural son, born in 1540 of Sir Richard Egerton and Alice Sparke. He married: (i) Elizabeth Ravenscroft, daughter of Thomas Ravenscroft and Catharine Grosvenor, before 1576. (ii) Elizabeth More, daughter of Sir William More and Margaret Daniell, circa 1596. (iii) Alice Spencer, daughter of Sir John Spencer and Katherine Kitson, on 20 October 1600. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1572. Solicitor-General 1581-1592. MP for Cheshire between 1584 and 1587. Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn,1587. Took part in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots and of the Earl of Essex. Attorney-General 1592-1594. Master of the Rolls 1594-1603. Chamberlain of Chester 1594-1603.He was invested as a Knight on 18 May 1594.Privy Counsellor on 6 May 1596. Lord Keeper 1596-1603. On 18 December 1598 he inherited the estate of Tatton, Chester (and others) from Richard Brereton (his brother-in-law). He was created 1st Baron of Ellesmere on 21 July 1603. Lord Chancellor 1603-1616/17. Lord High Steward 1603, for the trial of peers. Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1607-1616. Chancellor of Oxford University 1610-1617. Lord High Steward 1616. Created 1st Viscount Brackley 1616. Wrote 'Privileges of Prerogative of the High Court of Chancery' Children of Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley and Elizabeth Ravenscroft 1.Hon. Mary Egerton 2.Sir Thomas Egerton (before 1579-1599) 3.John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgwater (1579-1649) He died on 15 March 1616/17 at York House, Whitehall, London, England. He was buried on 10 April 1617 at Doddleston, Chester.