BRERETON, Roger (d.c.1617), of Halghton, Bangor Iscoed, Flints. and Hinton, Whitchurch, Salop

The Denbighshire Breretons were a cadet branch of the Cheshire family, acquiring their estates by marriage in the fifteenth century. This Member’s identity cannot be established with absolute certainty, but he was probably the man who served as a magistrate and sheriff of Flintshire in 1591-2.6 Griffith, 7; Dwnn, Vis. Wales ed. S.R. Meyrick, 353; PROB 11/92, f. 120v; STAC 5/B39/27. The other possibility is that the Member was this man’s nephew, whose elder brother would have been a strong candidate for the seat but for his death a few months before the election. However, the younger Roger Brereton was presumably not considered old enough for the seat, having apparently entered Lincoln’s Inn as recently as 1598.7 C142/282/47.

Brereton left little trace on the records of his only Parliament. Arrested upon a King’s Bench writ a few days after the adjournment of November 1605, he petitioned the Commons for privilege on 3 Feb. 1606, and was granted a writ of habeas corpus on 15 February. On 26 Mar. Egerton’s man-of-business Francis Moore* observed that Brereton had left Westminster without permission, and moved to recall him. Nothing more is known of the case.8 CJ, i. 262-3, 267b, 269a, 290a.

No will, administration or inquisition post mortem has been found for either of the Roger Breretons, nor is either man known to have married or had children. The next member of the family to sit in the Commons was Edward Brereton, who represented Denbigh Boroughs in six parliaments at the end of the century.9 HP Commons 1660-90, i. 714.