Sir William Brereton , 1st Baronet 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 . 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 . 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 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 .