Grey Egerton baronets

Egerton arms

The Egerton, later Grey Egerton Baronetcy, of Egerton and Oulton in the County of Chester, is a title in the Baronetage of England held by a branch of the Egerton family.

History

background

The baronetcy was created on 5 April 1617 for Roland Egerton, but the family originated in the 13th century. A Norman knight David le Clerc de Malpas migrated to England, was appointed a JP in Cheshire by King Henry III in 1252. Le Clerc held three knight's fees for the county, owing the king their service when summoned to war. His second son was called Philip Goch (translated from the brythonic as 'the Red'), Lord of the Manor of Egerton. For generations the family retained its feudal connections with that part of Cheshire.

In 15th century Philip Egerton of Egerton married Margery, daughter of William Mainwaring, during a violent period of civil war. He died in 1474 at the height of the Wars of the Roses, leaving a number of sons. The second was Ralph of Ridley, later knighted, whose illegitimate son by a concubine, Alice Sparks, was called Sir Thomas, later Viscount Brackley, and Baron of Ellesmere, he rose through the very heights of the Elizabethan court. Their elder son, John Egerton of Egerton ( -1483) married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Hugh Done of Oulton, and paternal granddaughter of James Touchet, Lord Audley. Their only son was Philip Egerton of Egerton and Oulton ( -1534), who married Joan, a widow of Richard Winnington and daughter and coheir of Gilbert Smith of Cuederley, Lancashire, leaving only one son. Sir Philip ( -1563) married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Randle Brereton, of Malpas. Their eldest son was John Egerton ( -1590) married Jane, daughter of Piers Mostyn, whose eldest son was Sir John.

Jacobean award

Sir Roland's parents were Sir John Egerton of Egerton and Oulton (1551- ) by Margaret, daughter of Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton, they left issue. Sir Roland later represented Wootton Bassett in Parliament. Egerton married Bridget, sister and co-heir of Thomas, 15th Baron Grey de Wilton, who was attainted in 1603 and his title forfeited (see Baron Grey de Wilton). The Egertons were an ancient Cheshire family: an ancestor of the first Baronet, William le Belward, took the surname of Egerton from the lordship of Egerton, which he inherited. The sixth Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Newton.^[1]

Thomas Egerton (1749 – 1814), who became 7th Baronet in 1756, Baron Grey de Wilton in 1784, as well as Viscount Grey de Wilton and Earl of Wilton in 1801

: a revival of the title held by his ancestors, to which he was in remainder. His peerage title was created with remainder to the heirs male of his body. In 1801 he was further honoured when he was elevated as Viscount Grey de Wilton and Earl of Wilton, of Wilton Castle in the County of Hereford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. These titles were created also with special remainder to the second and the younger sons successively of his daughter Lady Eleanor Egerton, who married Robert Grosvenor thereby becoming Marchioness of Westminster.

On Lord Wilton's death in 1814 the barony became extinct as he had no sons, while he was succeeded in the viscountcy and earldom according to the special remainder by his grandson Thomas Grosvenor (1799–1882), who adopted the surname of Egerton and became the second Earl and later passed the title on to his descendants. The baronetcy passed to his kinsman, the eighth Baronet, a descendant of a younger son of the first Baronet. He represented Chester in the House of Commons. The ninth Baronet was in 1825 granted by Royal Warrant, and for all subsequent Baronets on succeeding to the title, the right to assume for themselves only the additional surname of Grey and the arms and supporters of Grey de Wilton (although the 16th and 17th Baronets have chosen not to assume this additional surname). The tenth Baronet, Sir Philip, was a politician and noted palaeontologist. The sixteenth Baronet, was a Major-General in the British Army; inheriting the baronetcy at the age of 94, General Egerton opted not to use the customary style of Sir. As of 2014, the title is held by his son Sir William Egerton, the seventeenth Baronet, who succeeded in 2010.

Other notable members

Several other members of this branch of the Egerton family have also gained distinction. Caledon Richard Egerton, fifth son of the ninth Baronet, was a Major-General in the British Army. His third son, Sir Charles Comyn Egerton, was a Field Marshal in the British Army. His son Wion de Malpas Egerton (1879–1943), a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy, was killed in action in the Second World War. His son Sir David Egerton (1914–2010), a Major-General in the Royal Artillery, was awarded the Military Cross and later succeeded as sixteenth Baronet in 2008.

Sir Reginald Arthur Egerton, another son of the aforementioned Major-General Caledon Egerton (died 1930), was Private Secretary to the Postmaster-General, Surveyor to the General Post Office, London and Secretary-General to the GPO, Dublin. Sir Stephen Loftus Egerton (1932–2006) (son of William le Belward Egerton, son of William Egerton, son of Philip Henry Egerton, son of William Egerton, third son of Philip Egerton, father of the eighth and ninth Baronets), was a prominent diplomat; he served as HM Ambassador to Iraq from 1980 to 1982 and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1986 to 1989.

Sir Robert Eyles Egerton (1827–1912), youngest son of William Egerton, third son of Philip Egerton, father of the eighth and ninth Baronets, was Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab. His son Sir Raleigh Gilbert Egerton (1860–1931) was a Lieutenant-General in the British Army. A junior branch of the family is settled in Australia (see Peter Egerton Warburton); one of the present-day members of the family, Richard Egerton-Warburton AO LVO,^[2] while another branch founded the Mount Barker winery in Western Australia.^[3]

North elevation of Oulton Hall c. 1735

Egerton, later Grey Egerton baronets, of Egerton and Oulton (1617)

Sir Roland Egerton, 1st Baronet (died 1646)
Sir John Egerton, 2nd Baronet (died 1674)
Sir John Egerton, 3rd Baronet (c. 1658–1729)
Sir Holland Egerton, 4th Baronet (c. 1689–1730)
Sir Edward Egerton, 5th Baronet (c. 1719–1744)
Sir Thomas Grey Egerton, 6th Baronet (c. 1721–1756)
Sir Thomas Grey Egerton, 7th Baronet (1749–1814) (created Earl of Wilton in 1801)

Earls of Wilton (1801)

Thomas Egerton, 1st Earl of Wilton (1749–1814)

succeeded as Earl of Wilton according to the special remainder by his grandson Thomas Grosvenor (1799–1882)

see Earl of Wilton