page_title: Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Handforth Hall is a grade II* listed building in Handforth, Cheshire. A view of the front façade.This is a photo of listed building number 1222483.
context_page_description: Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, was an English Puritan who owned extensive estates in Cheshire, and Member of Parliament for Cheshire county at various times between 1628 and 1653. During the First English Civil War, he was commander of Parliamentarian forces in the North Midlands.
  In the 1630s, he travelled extensively through France, the Dutch Republic, Scotland, and Ireland; his travel journals from 1634 and 1635 were published in the 19th century. His records and letters from the Civil War are a primary source for Parliamentary local administration in the period, as well as the internal divisions that led to the Second English Civil War.
  Despite lacking prior military experience, he proved an energetic and capable soldier, and was one of the most powerful men in England when the First Civil War ended in 1646. However, he gave up his local offices, and although nominated as a judge, refused to attend the trial of Charles I in January 1649. He was elected to the Council of State in 1652 and 1653 but rarely attended, living in semi-retirement in London.
context_section_description: Brereton was born 13 September 1604 at the family home, Handforth Hall, eldest son of William Brereton (1584–1610), and Margaret Holland (1585–1609). Orphaned at the age of six, he was made a ward of his grandfather, Richard Denton (1549–1618).  
  As well as Handforth Hall, he inherited over 3,000 acres from his parents; in 1623, he married Susanna Booth, fourth daughter of another substantial local landowner, Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey Hall, Cheshire. 
  Before her death in 1637, they had four children; Susanna (1627, after 1661), Thomas (1632–1674), Frances (1635–1676), and Catherine (c. 1637 – after 1661). He took a second wife in 1641, Cicely Mytton, a wealthy Staffordshire widow, who died in 1649, and they had a daughter, Cecilia (c. 1642–1704). His will left Catherine and Cecilia £1,000 each.
caption: The family home, Handforth Hall, Cheshire
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