EGERTON, William

Egerton never surmounted the disadvantages of the younger son.1 According to Ormerod, he was the progenitor of the Egertons of Christleton near Chester, but this is impossible on chronological grounds: G. Ormerod, Palatine and City of Chester ed. Helsby, ii (2), 779-80. Not until he was an old man is there any record of a landed settlement in his favour. In February 1452 his elder brother, Ralph, nearing the end of his life, instructed his feoffees to settle upon him a life estate in his purchased lands at Betley near Wrinehill.

At the same time William was also given a reversionary interest in the bulk of the family inheritance, but this was of no immediate value for it would only fall in should the male issue of Ralph’s three sons fail.2 C146/4197. Not surprisingly against this background, William’s career, save for his election for Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1429, was one of almost unrelieved obscurity, and even that election reveals more about his elder brother’s concerns than his own. Ralph represented Staffordshire in the same Parliament, anxious to defend himself against the charge that he had conspired to deprive the Crown of a valuable wardship, and it seems likely that William sought, or his brother did so on his behalf, election to the same end. His qualifications as a candidate lay in the family’s residence at Wrinehill, a few miles from the borough, and perhaps his brother’s purchases in the borough itself (although it is not known whether these purchases occurred before 1429).3 C219/14/1. Ralph’s purchases in the borough are mentioned in his will of 1452: C146/4197.

Despite surviving his sole election by more than 20 years William played no further part in public affairs. Only one other reference to him has been found: on 24 Sept. 1436 he witnessed a deed by which Ralph obtained a reversionary interest in property in Betley and Balterley, perhaps the same property that was to be settled upon him in 1452.4 Add. Chs. 43185-6.