Sir Robert Brerewood (1588 – 8 September 1654) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 1640.

Life

Brerewood was born in 1588, he was the son of Mary (born Parry) and John Brerewood who had been Sheriff of Chester. His sister was named Jane (Ratcliffe) who was known for her religious life. The Brerewood family over several generations filled many public offices in Chester. In 1605 Brerewood was sent to Brasenose College, Oxford, and was later admitted to

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

. He was called to the bar on 13 November 1615, and practised for twenty-two years. He was given his uncle's Edward Brerewood library and he published some of the literary works. In 1637 he was appointed a judge of North Wales and was appointed reader at the Middle Temple in Lent term in 1638. He was chosen Recorder of Chester in 1639. Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900, Volume 6 In April 1640, Brerewood was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Chester for the Short Parliament. Also in 1640 Brerewood became serjeant-at-law and in 1641 he was appointed king's serjeant. He was knighted in 1643, and raised to the bench as one of the Judges of the Common Pleas. He was sworn in at Oxford where King Charles I then was, and continued to sit until the end of the Civil War but never in

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

. After the

execution of Charles I The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in E ...

he retired into private life. Brerewood died at the age of 66 and was buried in St Mary's Church, Chester. Brerewood married twice, firstly to Anna Mainwaring, daughter of Sir Randall Mainwaring of Over Peover, Cheshire, and secondly to Katherine Lea, daughter of Sir Richard Lea of Lea and Dernhall, Cheshire, and had several children by each of his wives.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brerewood, Robert 1588 births 1654 deaths English MPs 1640 (April) Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple English barristers Justices of the King's Bench Justices of the Common Pleas Serjeants-at-law (England) 17th-century English lawyers English lawyers