Brereton, William ___ 1604-1661 ___ British ___ soldier

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Brereton was born at Handforth, Cheshire, but lost his father when only six. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and then, when 23, was created a baron by Charles I. A year later he was elected MP for Cheshire but relinquished his seat so as to travel - to Holland, Scotland and Ireland. He wrote a journal during these journeys which was first published in 1844 by the Chetham Society. Brereton married twice, once to Susannah who died in 1637, leaving one son, and once to Cicely, who bore two daughters. He was re-elected to Parliament in 1640, and opposed the King on policies in many areas. After the outbreak of civil war in 1642, he was appointed a major-general of Parliament's forces. He is recorded to have had particular skills in the areas of espionage and siege warfare. His greatest triumph is said to be the siege and capture of Chester, which took over one year to complete. Brereton was one of very few leaders allowed to retain his military command and his seat in Parliament after the Self-Denying Ordinance. After the War, Brereton was given the tenancy of Croydon Palace, the former home of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1652.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Drawing up the sluices

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1634-1635 ___ travel Holland Ireland

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
etext
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ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Travels in Holland, the United Provinces, England, Scotland and Ireland
North Country Diaries (second series)
 

May 2005, September 2008, March 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.