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Egerton family, Earls of Ellesmere

This page summarises records created by this Family

The summary includes a brief description of the collection(s) (usually including the covering dates of the collection), the name of the archive where they are held, and reference information to help you find the collection.

Date: 1100-2000
History:

Thomas Egerton (1540-1617), natural son of Sir Richard Egerton of Ridley (Cheshire), was Lord Chancellor 1603-17, and was created Baron Ellesmere in 1603 and Viscount Brackley in 1616. He built up considerable estates in Cheshire and adjoining counties, including the Ellesmere estate in Shropshire (purchased from the feoffees of the 6th Earl of Derby) and properties in Denbighshire and Flintshire. In 1598 he inherited Tatton (Cheshire) and Worsley (Lancashire) from his brother-in-law, Richard Brereton. (Tatton later passed to a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Bridgewater). In 1604 he was granted Ashridge (Hertfordshire), which became the nucleus of a large estate in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

John Egerton (d. 1649) succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Brackley and in the same year was created Earl of Bridgewater. He married c.1601 Frances, daughter and co-heir of 5th Earl of Derby (d. 1594) and purchased the Brackley estate in Northamptonshire (like Ellesmere a property that had passed to the Earls of Derby from the family of Lovel). He also acquired property in Lincolnshire that had passed to the Earls of Derby through the marriage of the 4th Earl to a granddaughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. (These estates were alienated in the 18th century). The 4th Earl was created Duke of Bridgewater in 1720.

On the death of the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater in 1803 his Ashridge and Ellesmere estates passed to a cousin who succeeded as 7th Earl of Bridgewater (see Cust, Earls Brownlow), but the Brackley and Worsley estates, together with the canal property and Bridgewater House in London passed to his nephew Lord Gower, later 1st Duke of Sutherland, with remainder to his second son, Francis Leveson-Gower (later Egerton), who was created Earl of Ellesmere in 1846. The Bridgewater Canal was sold in 1887, and the Worsley estate, to the Bridgewater Estates Company, in 1923. The Stetchworth (Cambridgeshire) estate, near Newmarket, was acquired by the 3rd Earl of Ellesmere, and the Mertoun (Berwickshire) estate by the 4th Earl (as Viscount Brackley) in 1912. The 5th Earl succeeded a cousin as 6th Duke of Sutherland in 1963.

Estates in 1883: 10,080 acres in Lancashire; 2,839 acres in Northamptonshire; 303 acres in Cheshire; about 100 acres in Staffordshire; worth a total of £71,290 a year.

Places:
  • Astley, Warwickshire
  • Brackley, Northamptonshire
  • Bridgewater House, London
  • Bromfield, Denbighshire
  • Ellesmere, Shropshire
  • Frampton, Lincolnshire
  • Liverpool, Lancashire
  • Mertoun, Berwickshire
  • Southampton, Hampshire
  • Stetchworth, Cambridgeshire
  • Tatton, Cheshire
  • Wollaston, Northamptonshire
  • Wood Ditton, Cambridgeshire
  • Worsley, Lancashire
  • Yale, Denbighshire
Sources of authority: Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996, p. 54.
Name authority reference: GB/NNAF/F86900 (Former ISAAR ref: GB/NNAF/F10706 )
Collections
Number Description Held by Reference Further information
1
12th cent-19th cent: Cheshire (Tatton, etc), Lancs (Worsley, etc), Lincs (Frampton, etc), London (Bridgewater House, etc), Northants (Brackley, Wollaston, etc), Salop (Ellesmere, etc), Warwicks (Astley, etc), Denbighshire (Bromfield and Yale, etc) and Flintshire deeds, manorial records, estate papers and Egerton family papers, with misc deeds and papers for other counties and families
Huntington Library
NRA 24601 Egerton (Bridgwater)

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33a]
2
1651-1662: misc Cheshire (Tatton, etc) and Salop (Ellesmere, etc) estate corresp
Shropshire Archives
NRA 21443 Whitfield

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33b]
3
16th cent-20th cent: Stetchworth and Wood Ditton (Cambs) manorial records
Cambridgeshire Archives
See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33d]
4
13th cent-20th cent: Lancs (Worsley, etc) and Northants (Brackley, etc) deeds, manorial records, family and estate papers 13th-20th cent, with deeds and papers for Cambs (Wood Ditton, etc), Hants (Southampton) and London (Bridgewater House, etc) 18th-20th cent and Mertoun (Berwickshire) estate papers c1912-17
Northamptonshire Archives Service
NRA 4357

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33c]
5
18th cent-20th cent: Lancs (Worsley, etc) deeds, leases and estate accounts and papers
Salford City Archives
See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33e]
6
1770-1771: Bridgewater Canal (Lancs and Cheshire) accounts
Salford City Archives
See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33f]
7
mid 18th cent-mid 19th cent: Lancs (Liverpool, etc) estate, Bridgewater Canal and misc Egerton family, legal and household papers
Salford University Archives and Special Collections
NRA 28500

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33g]
8
c1895-1969: Lancs (Worsley, etc) estate corresp
Salford University Archives and Special Collections
See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33h]
9
1839-1846: Worsley (Lancs) house building accounts
Royal Institute of British Architects
NRA 34275 British Arch L

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [33i]
10
18th cent-19th cent: Lancs (Worsley, etc) estate papers
Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
NRA 9422

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [27c]
11
c1764-1935: Lancs colliery records
Lancashire Archives
NRA 12638 NCB: Lancs
12
1804-1834: Bridgewater House (London) vouchers 1833-34 and inventory of the plate of the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater 1804
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service: Staffordshire County Record Office
NRA 10699 Leveson-Gower

See HMC Principal family and estate collections L-W, 1999 [101a]
13
1796-1799: Bridgewater House (London) building papers
Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
NRA 9422

See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [27c]
14
1779-1797: Brackley (Northants) estate accounts
Northamptonshire Archives Service
NRA 21333
15
1629-1650: Wollaston (Northants) estreats of fines
Northamptonshire Archives Service
See HMC Principal family and estate collections A-K, 1996 [27k]