BOOTH, William (1595-1636), of Dunham Massey, Cheshire

The Booths had resided at Dunham Massey since the mid-fifteenth century and had long been prominent in Cheshire affairs. Ormerod, i. 523-5. Booth himself was the eldest son of Sir George Booth, one of the most influential county figures during the first half of the seventeenth century. J. Morrill, Cheshire, passim. Educated at Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, he subsequently married the daughter of Sir Thomas Egerton, the eldest son of the late lord chancellor Ellesmere (Sir Thomas Egerton I†). It was probably through his father’s influence that Booth was appointed Cheshire’s custos rotulorum in 1621, a position which he held until he was removed for unknown reasons in December 1626.

Booth’s election in 1624 for Cheshire was probably intended as part of his political education. He was unanimously chosen for the first place after Sir Richard Grosvenor* gave his remarkable election address. Pprs. of Sir Richard Grosvenor ed. R. Cust (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. cxxxiv), 1-7; R. Cust and P. Lake, ‘Sir Richard Grosvenor’, BIHR, liv. 40-53. He made no recorded speeches in Parliament, but on 27 Apr. he presented the names of suspected Cheshire recusants to the House. CJ, i. 776a; ‘Holland 1624’, ii. f. 52. Booth was appointed to private bill committees regarding Sir Edward Fisher’s estate (19 Apr.), Goathland manor (20 Apr.), Scudamore (21 Apr.), Somervyle (26 Apr.) and Morgan (1 May). CJ, i. 770a, 771b, 772a, 775a, 696a. His interest in these measures is unknown, but he attended three of the five meetings for the Goathland bill. C.R. Kyle, ‘Attendance Lists’, PPE 1604-48 ed. Kyle, 197. He was also named to the bill for the sealing of original writs (30 Apr.), and on the same day to a joint conference concerning pleading in the Exchequer Court. On 15 May Booth was instructed to help prepare the Commons’ case against Bishop Harsnett of Norwich ahead of a joint conference with the Lords. CJ, i. 695a, 705a.

Booth predeceased his father by 16 years, dying on 26 Apr. 1636, and was buried in Bowden church, Cheshire. Cheshire and Lancs. Fun. Certs. 25-6. He owed £11,000, but in the weeks before his death had hastily indentured several estates to his father for the payment of his debts and annuities to his children. Cheshire IPMs (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. lxxxiv), 42-8. Booth was succeeded by his eldest son, George†, who in 1659 led a royalist uprising in Cheshire which came to be known as Booth’s Rebellion. Morrill, ch. 8.