Brerewood

One of the most prolific officeholding families was that of Brerewood: Robert I was sheriff, Robert II mayor three times, his son John sheriff, and the latter's son, Robert III, recorder and alderman

Robert Brerewood (I)
Mayor of Chester 1583/4, 1587/8 and 1600/1 (when he died in office). Robert Jr married twice. His first wife, Elizabeth Horton (died 1580) was my 12 x great grandmother whose eldest son was Robert

JP Earwaker, in his book on the church of St Mary on the Hill


 * "At the upper end of the Chappell lye the the body of the late famous Citizen Robert Brerewood Alderman and thrice Mayor of this City, of whom I find no other Monument there, save only his coat, crest and streamer advanced over him, the words thereof are 'Labour prudentra equitale ' which were well fitted to him in whom those virtues were all eminent".

Robert Brerewood (II)
JP Earwaker, in his book on the church of St Mary on the Hill

"At the upper end of the Chappell lye the the body of the late famous Citizen Robert Brerewood Alderman and thrice Mayor of this City, of whom I find no other Monument there, save only his coat, crest and streamer advanced over him, the words thereof are 'Labour prudentra equitale ' which were well fitted to him in whom those virtues were all eminent".

John Brerewood
John Brerewood (c.1561–1599), sheriff of Chester 1598/9, married, Mary (d. 1592), daughter of Thomas Parry of Nannerch, Flintshire.

Edward Brerewood
Edward Brerewood (c. 1565–1613) was the jounger son of Robert, and an English scholar and antiquary. He was a mathematician and logician, and wrote an influential book on the origin of languages.

Sir Robert Brerewood (III)
Brerewood was the elder son of John Brerewood. In 1605 Brerewood was sent to Brasenose College, Oxford and was later admitted to Middle Temple, he was called to the bar on 13 November 1615, and practised for twenty-two years. He also published some of the literary works of his uncle Edward Brerewood; 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.

In April 1640, Brerewood was returned as Member of Parliament 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, after the execution of Charles I he retired into private life.

Sir Robert Brerewood was twice married first to Anne daughter of Sir Randle Mainwaringe of OverPever in that county who died in 1630 his second lady was Katherine daughter of Sir Richard Lea of Lea and Dernhall in Cheshire and left several children by each of them. He died in 1654 at Chester aged 67 years and lies buried in St Mary's church there. Lady B survived him thirty seven years.

Henry Brerewood (son of Robert III)
Curate at Sandbach.

Thomas Brerewood (son of Henry)
Thomas Brerewood (c.1670 - 22 December 1746), was a 'Gentleman Entrepreneur & Fraudster'. He was the son of Henry Brerewood, (vicar of Threekingham, Lincs. 1677-1703), and a grandson of Sir Robert Brerewood. He was deeply involved in the "Pitkin Affair" of 1705, a bankruptcy fraud that was only surpassed in scale by the South Sea Bubble of 1720. Despite the disgrace which followed, Brerewood was eventually pardoned and was able to rebuild his fortune, ending his career in Maryland as a respected man of substance and importance. In 1741, Brerewood became clerk of Baltimore County, a well-remunerated position which he held until his death on December 22, 1746.

Francis Brerewood (son of Thomas)
Francis Brerewood (1694-1781), the son of Thomas Brerewood, was an English painter, translator and architect. He enjoyed the patronage of Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, painting portraits of Lord Baltimore's son Benedict, and decorating the apartments of the Calvert family seat at Woodcote Park. He became embroiled in unsuccessful litigation in 1746 following his father's death, and he died in poverty in 1781.