| Authorised form of name | Brereton; William (1631 - 1680); 3rd Baron Brereton; politician and natural philosopher |
| Dates | 1631 - 1680 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Brereton, Cheshire, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | c. April 1631 |
| Place of death | Westminster, London, England, Europe |
| Date of death | 17 March 1680 |
| Dates and places | Baptism:
Brereton, Cheshire, England, Europe (4 May 1631)
Burial:
St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London, England, Europe (19 March 1680) |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Activity | Education:
Breda Academy (1646-1652) under John Pell (FRS 1663)
Career:
MP for Newton (1659); MP for Bossiney (1660); Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission (1667-1670); Gentleman of the Privy Chamber (1673-1680)
|
| Membership category | Original Fellow |
| Date of election | 22/04/1663 |
| Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
Sworn in on 10 June 1663; 1667-1679; 1671
Committee and panels:
Committee for Agriculture [Georgics]; Mechanical Committee |
| Relationships | Parents: William Brereton, second Baron Brereton, and Lady Elizabeth Goring (d. 1687)
Married: Frances Willoughby, daughter of 5th Baron Willoughby
Children: John Brereton (1659-1718); Francis Brereton (d.1722); one more son |
| General context | The Brereton family were royalists and were taken prisoner when the Parliamentary forces captured Biddulph House in Staffordshire in 1644. The Brereton family name died out upon the death of his youngest son Francis in 1722. William Brereton was well regarded in literary and scientific circles, and had been a companion of Thomas Hobbes and Sir Charles Cavendish while abroad. Brereton briefly shifted into a more promiment role in the public eye as Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission or Brooke House Committee, which inquired into the failures of the Navy during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Having been pit against Samuel Pepys, the Committee yielded no lasting results. Through marriage, Brereton was associated with his father-in-law William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham, who was governor of Barbados from 1650 until his death in a shipwreck in 1666. |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; GEC; Aubrey; Henning; ODNB
References:
Michael Hunter, 'The Social Bias and Changing Fortunes of an Early Scientific Institution: An Analysis of the Membership of the Royal Society, 1660-1685' in NR 1976-7 vol 31 pp 9-114
Michael Hunter, 'The Royal Society and its Fellows, 1660-1700: the morphology of an early scientific institution 1982
G H Turnbull, 'Samuel Hartlib's Influence on the Early History of the Royal Society' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 101-130
Notes:
The election date is Brereton's re-election date into the Society after the grant of the second charter in April 1663. All Fellows admitted in a two-month window after this charter, until 22 June 1663, are considered Original Fellows. He was previously mentioned as a member on 18 December 1661. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/7341469 |
| Royal Society code | NA8143 |