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The only son of the 1st Baron Egerton, Wilbraham Egerton (1832-1909) was a Justice of the Peace for Cheshire and a captain in the Earl of Chester's Yeomanry Cavalry before becoming Conservative MP for North Cheshire in 1858. In 1868 the seat was reorganised and he became MP for Mid Cheshire until 1883, when he succeeded his father’s title and moved to the House of Lords. He became the 1st Earl Egerton in 1897.
“The Egertons, appear to have first been de Malpas's and of Norman origin, but five hundred years ago they got the manor of Egerton, and took its name as their own. Four hundred years ago, Ralph Egerton left a natural son who became Lord Chancellor as Viscount Brackley, and from whom sprang the families of the Earls of Bridgewater. The third son of the second Earl of Bridgewater was Thomas Egerton of Tatton; and Tatton descended to his grandson, when, on the male line failing, it passed to his granddaughter, Esther Egerton, whose husband took her maiden name. Their daughter married in the last century one of the Sykes's of Sledmere, and the history of the race is thenceforth a hash of Egertons, Tattons, and Sykes's. The family however was rich, respectable, and respected, and in 1859 William Tatton Egerton was elevated to the Peerage as the first Baron Egerton of Tatton. He married a daughter of the second Lord Ely, who long was famous as one of the London great ladies, cited for her wit, her haughtiness, her assurance, and her parties, and who is still a living tradition in London Society as the now lamented ‘Tattie.’
The present, and second, Lord Egerton is the son of the great lady, was born four-and-fifty years ago, was sent, as became him, to Eton and to Oxford, and in 1858, when he was six-and-twenty, was elected to Parliament for Mid-Cheshire, which he represented till in 1883 he succeeded his father in the title and the estates. The inheritance was a rich one, for it comprised much land in Cheshire and Lancashire, including a good deal in, and close to, Manchester, which is of great value. Lord Egerton therefore is a wealthy man; he is also an honourable and a kindly man, a good landlord, and a sound Tory. Throughout Cheshire and a good part of Lancashire the name of Egerton has long been one to swear by, and the present Peer has added to its popularity and its power by his personal rectitude and his industry in all the unpaid works of public service. He is not an orator, but he is an Ecclesiastical Commissioner, and he is never found wanting when a man of position is looked for in the North to take a part in any public undertaking. He is a gentleman.”
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