Egerton, Sir Thomas, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley 1540-1617
English lawyer and statesman

Having been called to the Bar in 1572, he acquired a large practice in Chancery. He became Solicitor-General in 1581, a confidant of Elizabeth I and James VI and I, and a friend of Francis Bacon and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. He took part in the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots (1586) and of Essex (1600-01), and became Lord Chancellor in 1603. In the struggle with Sir Edward Coke and the courts of common law, he maintained the supremacy of his own court. He wrote Privileges of Prerogative of the High Court of Chancery (1641).