Family and Education

b. 12 Mar. 1654, 4th s. of John Egerton†, 2nd Earl of Bridgwater, by Elizabeth, da. of William Cavendish†, 1st Duke of Newcastle; bro. of Hon. Sir William Egerton*.  educ. M. Temple 1673; L. Inn 1678.  m. 30 Apr. 1691, Elizabeth, da. and h. of Henry Murray, groom of the bedchamber to Charles I, wid. of Randolph Egerton of Betley, Staffs., 1s.1

Offices Held

Biography

Egerton was returned unopposed on his family interest for Brackley in 1695. He was listed as likely to support the Court in the forecast of a division on 31 Jan. 1696 on the proposed council of trade, and he signed the Association promptly. In March he voted for fixing the price of guineas at 22s., while in the 1696–7 session he voted on 25 Nov. for the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. Returned in a contested election in 1698, he was noted as a Court supporter in a comparative analysis of the old and new Commons. Towards the end of the year he was forecast as likely to oppose a standing army, though he was noted on two lists as having voted on 18 Jan. 1699 against the third reading of the disbanding bill. In 1700, in an analysis of the House into interests, he was classed as an adherent of the Junto. Returned unopposed in the first 1701 election, he was listed among those Members likely to support the Court in agreeing with the committee of supply’s resolution to continue the ‘Great Mortgage’. Egerton was successful in a contest in the second 1701 election, and again in 1702. However, he remained inactive in Parliament. In the 1702–3 session he voted on 13 Feb. 1703 for the Lords’ amendments to the bill for enlarging the time for taking the oath of abjuration. At the beginning of the 1704–5 session he was forecast as a probable opponent of the Tack, and did not vote for it on 28 Nov. 1704. Returned in a contested election in 1705, at which time he was noted as a ‘Churchman’, he voted on 25 Oct. for the Court candidate as Speaker, and supported the Court on 18 Feb. 1706 in the proceedings on the ‘place clause’ of the regency bill. In 1708 he was returned unopposed for Brackley, at which time he was noted as a Court Whig in an analysis of Parliament. In the 1708–9 session he supported the naturalization of the Palatines. At the 1710 election he was returned in a contested election, and was classed as a Whig in the ‘Hanover list’. However he was unseated on petition on 27 Jan. 1711.2

Although Egerton shared in the division of the estates of Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, who died in March 1703, he nevertheless fell into financial difficulties, and in 1712 he obtained a private Act of Parliament to sell his manor of Marchington in Staffordshire, in order to pay a mortgage of £2,500 and other debts. He did not stand for Parliament again and died on 11 Dec. 1717.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Baker, Northampton, 564; Chauncy, Herts. ii. 483; Clutterbuck, Herts. i. 392; IGI, London.
• 2. Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 683.
• 3. HMC Lords, n.s. vi. 363; vii. 44; viii. 284, 301.