Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brereton, Owen Salusbury

by Charles William Sutton

BRERETON, OWEN SALUSBURY (1715–1798), antiquary, born in 1715, was son of Thomas Brereton, by his first wife, Miss Trelawney. The father came to own Shotwick Park, Cheshire, and other property through his second marriage with Catherine, daughter of Mr. Salusbury Lloyd, M.P. for Liverpool 1724 till his death in 1756. Lloyd altered his surname to Salusbury. Owen Brereton added that name on succeeding to estates in the counties of Chester, Denbigh, and Flint on his father's death.^[1] He was admitted a scholar of Westminster School in 1729, and was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1734. He was called to the bar in 1738, and in that year held the post of a lottery commissioner. In September 1742 he was appointed recorder of Liverpool, an office he retained till his death, a period of fifty-six years. When he proposed to resign in 1796, he was requested by the corporation to retain the situation, and they appointed a deputy to relieve him of the pressure of its duties. He became a member of the Society of Arts in 1762, and was vice-president from 1765 to 1798, in which capacity he rendered great service to the society. He was also a member of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries (elected 1763), a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, treasurer of that body, and keeper of the Black Book. He was member of parliament for Ilchester in Somerset from 1775 to 1780, and constable of Flint Castle from 1775. He died at his residence at Windsor, on 8 Sept. 1798, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on 22 Sept.

To the 'Philosophical Transactions' of 1781 he contributed an account of a storm at Eastbourne, and to the 'Archæologia' he sent several papers:

1. 'Round Towers in Ireland,' ii. 80.
2. 'Observations in a Tour through North Wales, Shropshire, &c.,' iii. 111.
3. 'Extracts from a MS. relating to the Household of Henry VIII,' iii. 145.#'Particulars of a Discovery of Gold Coins at Fenwick Castle,' v. 166.
4. 'Description of third unpublished Seal of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France,' v. 280.
5. 'Brereton Church Window,' ix. 368.
6. 'Silver Coin of Philip of France,' x. 465. In vols. viii. x. xi. and xii. of the same work are particulars of various objects of antiquity exhibited by him. The paper on Brereton Church contains several unaccountable inaccuracies, which have been commented upon by Mr. Ormerod in his 'History of Cheshire.'

[John Holliday in Trans. of the Society of Arts, xix. 4-8, with portrait; same article in Chalmers's Biog. Dict.; Gent. Mag. 1798, lxviii. part ii. p. 816; Ormerod's Cheshire, ed. Helsby, 1882, ii. 573; Welch's Westminster Scholars, 1788; Return of Members of Parliament, 1878, ii. 154.]

C. W. S.

1. Changed in reprint; previously it read: "was born in 1715. His father was Thomas Brereton, afterwards of Shotwick Park, Cheshire, who came into the possession of that estate through marriage with Catherine, daughter of Mr. Salusbury Lloyd. Owen Brereton was the son of a former marriage with a Trelawney, and added the name of Salusbury on succeeding to estates in the counties of Chester, Denbigh, and Flint on his father's death about the year 1756." (Wikisource contributor note)

Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.36
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line

Page	Col.	Line
268	ii	23 f.e.	Brereton, Owen S.: after Lloyd insert He was M.P. for Liverpool from 1724 till his death in 1756, changing his name to Salusbury some years before
		18 f.e.	⁠omit about the year 1756
269	i	5	⁠after 1780 insert supporting Lord North