Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington

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Thomas Cholmondeley
Succeeded by
  • Thomas Cholmondeley
  • Personal details
    Born(1652-01-13)13 January 1652
    Died2 January 1694(1694-01-02) (aged 41)
    SpouseMary Langham
    ChildrenGeorge Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington
    Parents
    Mary Langham, Lady Delamer, portrait by Mary Beale

    Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington

    Member of Parliament, Privy Councillor, Protestant protagonist in the Revolution of 1688, Mayor of Chester
    and author.

    Life

    Booth was a son of George Booth, Baron Delamer and Lady Elizabeth Grey.[1] His maternal grandparents were Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford and Anne Cecil, daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter.

    Booth served as a

    Member of Parliament for Cheshire in 1678, 1679 and 1679–1681,[1]
    and was conspicuous for his opposition to Catholics. On 7 July 1670, he married Mary Langham, daughter of Sir James Langham, 2nd Baronet.

    At a treason trial in the

    Judge Jeffreys, as Lord High Steward, sitting with thirty other peers. The defence secured an acquittal.[2]

    During the

    chancellor of the exchequer in 1689. He wrote a number of political tracts, which were published after his death as The Works of the Right Honourable Henry, Late L. Delamer, and Earl of Warrington.[3] He also authored a tract in vindication of his friend, Lord Russel. He was created Earl of Warrington on 17 April 1690.[1] He became mayor of Chester in October 1691, and died on 2 January 1694.[1]

    Wife and children

    By his marriage in 1670 to Mary Langham, a daughter of Sir James Langham, 2nd Baronet, Warrington had five children who survived infancy:

    Monumental inscriptions

    In the Dunham Chancel of the Church of Bowdon is a monument placed between two windows on the south side of the chapel, and divided into two tablets; the first of which is inscribed:

    "Beneath lieth the body of the right hon'ble Henry Booth, earl of Warrington, and baron Delamer of Dunham Massey, a person of unblemished honour, impartial justice, strict integrity, an illustrious example of steady and unalterable adherence to the liberties and properties of his country in the worst of times, rejecting all offers to allure, and despising all dangers to deter him therefrom, for which he was thrice committed close prisoner to the Tower of London, and at length tried for his life upon a false accusation of high treason, from which he was unanimously acquitted by his peers, on 14 January, MDCLXXX V/VI which day he afterwards annually commemorated by acts of devotion and charity: in the year MDCLXXXVIII he greatly signalised himself at the Revolution, on behalf of the protestant religion and the rights of the nation, without mixture of self-interest, preferring the good of his country to the favour of the prince who then ascended the throne; and having served his generation according to the will of God was gathered to his fathers in peace, on the 2d of January, 169¾, in the XLIId year of his age, whose mortal part was here entombed on the same memorable day on which eight years before his trial had been."[5]

    On the other tablet is inscribed:

    "Also rest by him the earthly remains of the r. hon'ble Mary countess of Warrington, his wife, sole daughter and heir of sir James Langham, of Cottesbrooke, in the county of Northamptom, [sic] knt. and bart. a lady of ingenious parts, singular discretion, consummate judgement, great humility, meek and compassionate temper, extensive charity, exemplary and unaffected piety, perfect resignation to God's will, lowly in prosperity and patient in adversity, prudent in her affairs, and endowed with all other virtuous qualities, a conscientious discharger of her duty in all relations, being a faithful, affectionate, and observant, wife, alleviating the cares and afflictions of her husband by willingly sharing with him therein; a tender, indulgent, and careful mother, a dutiful and respectful daughter, gentle and kind to her servants, courteous and beneficent to her neighbours, a sincere friend, a lover and valuer of all good people, justly beloved and admired by all who knew her, who having perfected holiness in the fear of God, was by him received to an early and eternal rest from her labours, on 23 March 1690/1, in the XXXVIIth year of her age, calmly and composedly meeting and desiring death with joyful hope and steadfastness of faith, a lively draught of real worth and goodness, and a pattern deserving imitation, of whom the world was not worthy. Heb. XI. 38."[5]

    See also

    References

    1. ^ a b c d Doyle, James E. (1886). The Official Baronage of England. Vol. III. Longmans, Green and Co. p. 569.
    2. ^ "Chief Justice George Jeffreys". Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
    3. .
    4. ^ John Edwards Griffith, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families, with Their Collateral Branches in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and Other Parts (Bridge Books, 1914), p. 171
    5. ^ a b The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester by George Ormerod and Thomas Helsby, 2nd edition, George Routledge and Sons, London 1882, pages 515 & 516.
    Parliament of England
    Preceded by
    Thomas Cholmondeley
    Member of Parliament for Cheshire
    1678–1685
    With: Thomas Cholmondeley 1678–1679
    Sir Philip Egerton 1679
    Sir Robert Cotton, Bt 1679–1685
    Succeeded by
    Thomas Cholmondeley
    Political offices
    Preceded by Chancellor of the Exchequer
    1689–1690
    Succeeded by
    Honorary titles
    Preceded by Custos Rotulorum of Cheshire
    1673–1682
    Succeeded by
    Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire
    1689–1694
    Vacant
    Title next held by
    The Earl Rivers
    Preceded by Custos Rotulorum of Cheshire
    1689–1694
    Peerage of England
    New creation Earl of Warrington
    1st creation
    1690–1694
    Succeeded by
    Preceded by Baron Delamer
    1st creation
    1684–1694