George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer

George Booth was the son of Sir William Booth of Dunham Massey and Margaret Assheton. Sir William Booth was the son and heir apparent to Sir George Booth, 1st Baronet (1566–1652), of the ancient family settled at Dunham Massey in Cheshire, by his wife Vere Egerton, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Egerton. He took an active part in the Civil War alongside his grandfather, Sir George Booth, on the Parliamentarians' side. He was returned to the Long Parliament as Member of Parliament for Cheshire in 1645.[1]

George Booth was nominated to the Barebones Parliament for Cheshire in 1653 and was elected MP for Cheshire in the First Protectorate Parliament in 1654 and in the Second Protectorate Parliament in 1656.[1] In 1655 he was appointed military commissioner for Cheshire and treasurer at war. He was one of the excluded members who tried and failed to regain their seats in the restored Rump Parliament after the fall of Richard Cromwell in 1659.[2]

He had for some time been regarded by the Royalists as a well-wisher to their cause, and was described to the King in May 1659 as "very considerable in his county, a Presbyterian in opinion, yet so moral a man ... I think Your Majesty may safely [rely] on him and his promises which are considerable and hearty".[2] He thus became one of the chief leaders of the new Royalists who united with the Cavaliers to effect the Restoration.[2]

Uprising

Main article: Booth's Uprising

A memorial to the battle photographed in 2013

An uprising[3] was arranged for 5 August 1659 in several districts, and Booth received a commission from Charles II to assume command of the revolutionary forces in Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales.[4]

After gaining control of Chester on the 19 August, he issued a proclamation declaring that "arms had been taken up in vindication of the freedom of Parliament, of the known laws, liberty and property",[2] and then marched towards York. The plot, however, was known to John Thurloe. Having been foiled in other parts of the country, Lambert's advancing forces defeated Booth's men at the Battle of Winnington Bridge near Northwich.[2][5][6] Booth himself escaped disguised as a woman, but was discovered at Newport Pagnell on the 23 August whilst having a shave, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.[2]

Estate of Sir George Booth Act 1660
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for enabling of Sir George Booth Baronet to make Leases and Sales of Part of his Estate.
Citation	12 Cha. 2. c. 14
Dates
Royal assent	13 September 1660

However, Booth was soon liberated and returned to his seat in the Convention Parliament in 1660.[1] He was one of the twelve members deputed to carry the message of the House of Commons to Charles II at The Hague. In July 1660 he received a grant of £10,000 according to the House of Commons Journal for 30 July 1660, having refused the larger sum of £20,000 at first offered to him, and on 20 April 1661, on the occasion of the coronation, he was created Baron Delamer, with a licence to nominate six new knights. The same year he was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Cheshire.[2]

In later years he showed himself staunchly opposed to the reactionary policies of the government. He died on 8 August 1684, and was buried in the Booth Chapel at Bowdon Church.[2]

Booth's first marriage was to Lady Catherine Clinton, daughter and co-heir of Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln, with whom he had one daughter, Vera Booth. After the death of his first wife, he married Lady Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford, by whom, besides five daughters, he had seven sons, the second of whom, Henry, succeeded him in the Booth titles and estates, which included Dunham Massey Hall and Staley Hall. Henry later became Earl of Warrington. Although this earldom became extinct on the death of the 2nd Earl in 1758, the Booth Barony of Delamer carried on another generation, only becoming extinct upon the 4th Baron's death in 1770. The Booths' even older baronetcy title then devolved upon a distant cousin, the Rev Sir George Booth, Rector of Ashton-under-Lyne, although the family's representation in the House of Lords had ceased. The Delamer title was later recreated (as Delamere) in 1821 for the Cholmondeley family, kinsmen of the Marquesses of Cholmondeley and the Cholmeley baronets.[2]

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Booth, George (1622-1684).

• Helms, M. W.; Hampson, Gillian; Henning, Basil Duke (1983). "Booth, Sir George, 2nd Bt. (1622–84), of Dunham Massey, Cheshire.". In Henning, Basil Duke (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660–1690. Boydell and Brewer.
• Kelsey, Sean (January 2006) [2004]. "Booth, George, first Baron Delamer (1622–1684)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2877. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Ormerod, George (1819). The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester. Vol. 2. Lackington. p. 111.
• Young, Peter (1973). The English Civil War armies. Issue 14 of Men-at-arms series (illustrated, reprint ed.). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-119-1.

Attribution:

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Delamere, George Booth, 1st Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 943.

• www.burkespeerage.com