The first Master is noted as Lord William Brereton.
During his administration in the Philippines, his term was scandalized by bitter quarrels with various military officers (General William Draper; Admiral Cornish; Major Felt; Captain Thomas Backhouse (command British forces in Manila); and Captain William Brereton, RN).
The Battle of Hopton Heath was a fought between Parliamentarian forces led by Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet and Sir William Brereton and a Royalist force under Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton.
Finally, after successfully beating off Sir William Brereton's attack on Warrington, he was defeated at Whalley and withdrew to York, Warrington in consequence surrendering to the enemy's forces.
Thence on March 19, accompanied by three of his sons, he marched out with his troops and engaged Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet and Sir William Brereton at Hopton Heath.
After the skirmish is seems that the Royalist detachment made for Tarvin, because two days later (Tuesday 20 August) a party of Parliamentarians from Nantwich with the assistance of Sir William Brereton's horse and reinforcements from Halton Castle attacked the Royalists quartered at Tarvin and for the fifteen prisoners they lost two days earlier taking between 200 and 300 horses, capturing 45 prisoners and killing 15, all for the loss of only one man.
He held no military commission during the Civil War but was an active Commissioner of Array and garrisoned Brereton.
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Brereton was the son of Sir John Brereton (the 4th son and heir apparent to his grandfather Sir William Brereton, 1st Baron Brereton) of Brereton Hall and Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Fitton.
Brereton became an original Fellow of the Royal Society on 22 April 1663.
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Also in the hall are three sculptures which depict minstrels marching to the aid of Earl Ranulph III who was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle, Sir William Brereton following his arrest in 1642, Edward, the Black Prince granting a charter to the city in 1354 and Henry VII granting county status to Chester in 1506.
In 1643, parliamentarian forces under the command of Sir William Brereton advanced from Northwich to launch an attack on Warrington, the Lancashire headquarters of the royalist James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.