Duke of Bridgewater

Earl of Bridgewater is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, once for the Daubeny family (1538) and once for the Egerton family (1617). From 1720 to 1803, the Earls of Bridgewater also held the title of Duke of Bridgewater. The 3rd Duke of Bridgewater is famously known as the "Canal Duke", for his creation of a series of canals in North West England.

The title Earl of Bridgewater was first created in 1538 for Henry Daubeny, 9th Baron Daubeny. The Daubeney family descended from Elias Daubeny, who in 1295 was summoned by writ to the Model Parliament as Lord Daubeny. The eighth Baron was created Baron Daubeny by letters patent in the Peerage of England in 1486 and was also made a Knight of the Garter the following year. All three titles became extinct on the first Earl of Bridgewater's death in 1548.

The title Earl of Bridgewater was created secondly in 1617 for John Egerton, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley, after the town of Bridgwater in Somerset, where he owned estates. The Egerton family descended from Sir Richard Egerton of Ridley, Cheshire, whose illegitimate son Sir Thomas Egerton was a prominent lawyer who served as Master of the Rolls from 1594 to 1603, as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal from 1593 to 1603 and as Lord High Chancellor of England from 1603 to 1617. Thomas Egerton was knighted in 1594, admitted to the Privy Council in 1596 and in 1603 he was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Ellesmere, in the County of Shropshire, and in 1616 to Viscount Brackley. In 1598 he had inherited the Tatton estate in Cheshire from his brother-in-law Richard Brereton. He was succeeded by his son, John who represented Callington and Shropshire in the House of Commons and served as Lord-Lieutenant of several counties in Wales and western England and who in 1617 was made Earl of Bridgewater in the Peerage of England.

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