Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton

Who was Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton?

Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton was an English Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1858 to 1883 when he inherited his peerage and was elevated to the House of Lords.

Egerton was the only son of the 1st Baron Egerton and his wife Lady Charlotte Loftus eldest daughter of the Marquis of Ely. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was a Justice of the Peace for Cheshire and a captain in the Earl of Chester's Yeomanry Cavalry.

In 1858 Egerton was elected Member of Parliament for North Cheshire and held the seat until it was reorganised in 1868. He was then elected MP for Mid Cheshire and held the seat until 1883, when he succeeded to his father's title of Baron Egerton. He was the second Chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal from 1887 to 1894. In 1897, he was created Earl Egerton.

Egerton died at the age of 77.

Egerton married Lady Mary Amherst, the only daughter of the 2nd Earl Amherst on 15 October 1857. They had one child, Lady Gertrude Lucia Egerton, who later married the future 8th Earl of Albemarle. His first wife died in 1892 and on 8 August 1894, Lord Egerton married Alice Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, the widow of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.