Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet

Sir William Brereton MP, JP
Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet
Member of Parliament for Cheshire 1628
In office November 1640 – April 1653
English Council of State
In office December 1652 – February 1653
Personal details
Born	13 September 1604 Handforth
Died	7 April 1661(1661-04-07) (aged 56) Croydon Palace
Resting place	St John Baptist Churchyard, Croydon Minster
Spouse(s)	Susanna Booth (1623–1637) Cicely Mytton (1641–1649)
Relations	William, Baron Brereton (1611–1664)
Children	One son, three daughters
Parent(s)	William Brereton (1584–1610); Margaret Holland (1585–1609)
Alma mater	Brasenose College, Oxford
Occupation	Landowner and soldier
Military service
Allegiance	England
Years of service	1643 to 1646
Rank	Major-General
Commands	Commander, Parliamentarian forces Cheshire
Battles/wars	First English Civil War First Middlewich Hopton Heath Second Middlewich Nantwich Malpas Chester Stow-on-the-Wold Third siege of Lichfield

Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, 13 September 1604 – 7 April 1661, was an English religious Independent, author, and landowner from Cheshire. He was Member of Parliament for Cheshire at various times between 1628 and 1653, and during the First English Civil War, commander of Parliamentarian forces in the North Midlands.

In the 1630s, he travelled extensively through France, the Dutch Republic, Scotland, and Ireland; his travel journals from 1634 and 1635 were published in the 19th century. His records and letters from the Civil War are a primary source for Parliamentary local administration in the period, as well as the internal divisions that led to the Second English Civil War.

Despite a lack of prior military experience, he proved an energetic and capable soldier, and was one of the most powerful men in England when the First Civil War ended in 1646. However, he gave up his local offices, and although nominated as a judge, refused to attend the trial of Charles I in January 1649. He was elected to the English Council of State in 1652 and 1653 but rarely attended, living in semi-retirement in London. He resumed his seat for Cheshire when the Long Parliament was reinstated in 1659, until its dissolution in March 1660, and died on 7 April 1661.