EGERTON, Sir THOMAS, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley (1540?–1617), lord chancellor, born about 1540, was the natural son of Sir Richard Egerton of Ridley, Cheshire, by one Alice Sparke. His father's family claimed descent from Robert Fitzhugh, baron of Malpas, a contemporary of William I. He is stated to have become a commoner of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1556, but his name is absent from the matriculation register. He entered Lincoln's Inn three years later; was called to the bar in 1572; quickly acquired a large practice in the chancery courts, and was rapidly promoted. In 1580 he was governor of his inn, in 1582 Lent reader, and in 1587 treasurer. He became solicitor-general on 26 June 1581, and attorney-general on 2 June 1592. He was knighted at the close of 1593, and was appointed chamberlain of Chester. It is stated that the queen conferred the solicitorship after hearing him plead in a case in which he opposed the crown. 'In my troth,' she is said to have exclaimed, 'he shall never plead against me again.' He conducted the prosecutions of Campion in 1581, of Davison in 1587, of the Earl of Arundel in 1589, and of Sir John Perrot in 1592. On 10 April 1594 Egerton was promoted to the bench as master of the rolls, and after Sir John Puckering's death he became lord keeper on 6 May 1596. The last promotion, like the first, was conferred on him by the queen's 'own choice without any competitor or mediator.' Burghley was ill pleased by Elizabeth's independent action, but the popular verdict was highly favourable to the appointment. 'I think no man,' wrote Reynolds to Essex, 'ever came to this dignity with more applause than this worthy gentleman' (Birch, Memoirs, i. 479). Egerton was made at the same time a privy councillor, and continued to hold the mastership of the rolls till 18 May 1603. Elizabeth consulted him repeatedly in matters of home and foreign policy. In 1598 he was a commissioner for treating with the Dutch, and in 1600 was similarly employed with Denmark. As lord keeper he delivered the queen's messages to parliament, and announced her temporising decision respecting monopolies on Feb. 1597-8. In November 1601 he came into collision with the speaker of the House of Commons on a small question of procedure, and was compelled to withdraw from the position that he first took up. His consideration for deserving young barristers is illustrated by the invariable kindness which he showed to Francis Bacon, who acknowledged his 'fatherly care' when writing of him in 1596. In 1606 Egerton worked hard to secure the attorney-generalship for Bacon, but although he met with no success, his openly displayed patronage was of assistance to Bacon at the bar.
Egerton made the acquaintance of the Earl of Essex [see Devereux, Robert, 1567-1601] soon after coming to court, and in spite of the disparity in their ages a warm friendship sprang up between them. 'They love and join very honourably together,' wrote Anthony Bacon to Dr. Hawkins (Birch, ii. 146). Egerton was one of the few councillors who witnessed the famous scene in the council, in July 1598, when Essex insulted the queen and she boxed his ears. Afterwards in well-reasoned letters Egerton earnestly urged upon Essex the obvious prudence of a humble apology to Elizabeth. While Essex was in Ireland in the autumn of 1599, Egerton sent the earl a timely warning that his policy was exciting suspicion and dissatisfaction at home. When Essex arrived home without leave, he was committed to the custody of the lord keeper on 1 Oct. 1599, and lived in York House, the lord keeper's official residence, till 5 July 1600. A month earlier he was brought before a specially constituted court, meeting in York House, over which Egerton presided, and was then deprived of all his offices. On the morning of Sunday, 8 Feb. 1600-1, the day fixed by Essex for his rebellion, Egerton, with three other officers of state, went to Essex's house to request an explanation of his suspicious conduct. They were allowed to enter, and cries of 'Ball them' were raised by Essex's armed supporters. Essex led them to a back room, and locked the door upon them. They were released at four o'cIock in the afternoon, after six hours' detention, when the failure of Essex's rebellion was known. Egerton took a prominent part in Essex's trial on 19 Feb. 1600-1.
The queen's confidence in her lord keeper increased with her years. He was an active member of all special commissions. From 31 July to 8 Aug. 1602 he entertained the queen at enormous expense for three days at his house at Harefield, Middlesex (Egerton Papers, 340-57). He had bought this estate of Sir Edmund Anderson in 1601. With James I Egerton was soon on equally good terms. On 26 March 1603, two days after the queen's death, the Earl of Northumberland declared that the privy councillors had no authority to act in the interregnum, and that the old nobility should fill their places. Egerton acquiesced so far as to suggest that
