Charles Egerton (12 March 1654 – 11 December 1717), of Marchington,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, was an English aristocrat and Whig politician who sat in the English and British Houses of Commons between 1695 and 1711. The fourth son of John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgwater and his wife Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, he was admitted at the Middle Temple in 1673 and at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1678. Egerton married Elizabeth Murray, the daughter and heiress of Henry Murray,

Groom of the Bedchamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...

to Charles I, and widow of Randolph Egerton, of Betley, Staffordshire on 30 April 1691. His brother, Sir William Egerton, was also a lawyer. Egerton was returned as Member of Parliament for

Brackley, Northamptonshire Brackley is a market town and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, bordering Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, from Oxford and from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the int ...

, on the family interest at the

1695 English general election The 1695 English general election was the first to be held under the terms of the Triennial Act of 1694, which required parliament to be dissolved and fresh elections called at least every three years. This measure helped to fuel partisan rivalry ...

. He voted for fixing the price of guineas at 22 shillings in March 1695, and voted for the attainder of Sir John Fenwick on 25 November 1696. At the

1698 English general election After the conclusion of the 1698 English general election the government led by the Whig Junto believed it had held its ground against the opposition. Over the previous few years, divisions had emerged within the Whig party between the 'court' sup ...

, he was returned toParliament again unopposed and was a Court supporter. He was returned unopposed at the first 1701 and after a contest at the second 1701 election, and again at the

1702 English general election The 1702 English general election was the first to be held during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen Anne, and was necessitated by the demise of William III of England, William III. The new government dominated by the Tories (Britis ...

. At the

1705 English general election The 1705 English general election saw contests in 110 constituencies in England and Wales, roughly 41% of the total. The election was fiercely fought, with mob violence and cries of " Church in Danger" occurring in several boroughs. During the pr ...

he was returned in a contest. He voted for the Court candidate as Speaker on 25 October 1705 and supported the Court in the proceedings on the ‘place clause’ of the Regency Bill on 18 February 1706. In 1708 he was returned unopposed as a Whig MP for Brackley. He supported the naturalization of the Palatines. At the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

he was returned in a contest, but was unseated on petition in favour of John Burgh on 27 January 1711. From 1697 to 1709 Egerton was involved in backing a scheme to pardon the pirates of Madagascar and have them return to England with their considerable plundered wealth. Propagated by former pirate John Breholt, the scheme lost traction after Breholt's piratical past came to light. Egerton inherited a share of the estates of Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, who died in March 1703, but later ran into financial difficulties. In 1712 he obtained a private Act of Parliament to sell his manor of Marchington in Staffordshire, to pay his debts. He did not stand for Parliament again and died on 11 December 1717, aged 63. He and his wife had one son.

References

1654 births 1717 deaths People from Brackley English MPs 1695–1698 English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1701 English MPs 1701–1702 English MPs 1702–1705 English MPs 1705–1707 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 Younger sons of earls {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub