Descendants of Sir Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617), a noted jurist, statesman, and patron of the arts and literature, the Egertons were known as a politically and socially influential family. John Egerton, son of Sir Thomas Egerton, obtained earldom, and John Scroop Egerton was made the 1st Duke of Bridgewater. With the death of Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, the dukedom became extinct. The childless duke left the Bridgewater House in London, together with its famous library to his nephew George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland. His son Francis Egerton Ellesemere (1800-1857) who assumed the name of Egerton, was created Viscount Brackley and 1st Earl of Ellesmere. He was known as a poet, collector and patron of scholarship, the first President of the Camden society. He retained the services of John Payne Collier, the literary critic and notorious forger. Collier published a catalog of selected items from the Bridgewater Library. He also acquired the collection of plays of John Larpent, Examiner of Plays, which he sold to the Earl in 1853.
From the description of Egerton family papers, ca. 1150-1803 (bulk 1580-1803). (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 86129685
