page_title: Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet
section_title: Post 1646
hierarchical_section_title: Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet / Career / Post 1646
caption_attribution_description: English: This building, now a school, was one of the five Palaces successively or concurrently owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury before the Dissolution, the others being Lambeth (still today with some with the church's main offices and as a meeting place for bishops), Otford, Maidstone and Charing.
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: Historian John Morrill writes that in 1646, Brereton was 'one of the most powerful and influential men in England'. As a reward for his services, Parliament granted him possession of Eccleshall Castle, seat of the Bishop of Lichfield, and Croydon Palace, owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He survived Pride's Purge in December 1648, and was appointed one of the judges for the trial of Charles I in January 1649, although he did not attend the court.
  Despite being elected to the Council of State in 1651 and 1652, during the Commonwealth he lived in semi-retirement in Croydon Palace. The precise reasons are unclear, although it has been suggested he was disillusioned by the post-war religious and political settlement. In the 1656 election, he unsuccessfully stood for Cheshire in opposition to the list proposed by Major-General Bridge.
  When the Long Parliament re-assembled in 1659, he took his seat once more but did not stand for the Convention Parliament. After the 1660 Restoration, he was obliged to return the church properties awarded in 1646 but was apparently allowed to stay on at Croydon, where he died on 7 April 1661. Despite later claims his coffin was lost while being transported to Handford, parish records show he was buried in St John Baptist Churchyard, Croydon Minster.
caption: State apartments of Croydon Palace, now part of a private school
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