John Brereton (Irish lawyer) facts for kids

Sir John Brereton (1576–1629) was an English-born lawyer who held office in Ireland as Serjeant-at-law.

He was appointed the Irish Prime Serjeant in 1617,with a knighthood, and served in that office until his death on 1 October 1629. He was the first holder of the office to be called Prime Serjeant, rather than by the older title of King's Serjeant. The reason for the change of title was the creation in 1627 of the new office of Second Serjeant.

In his will he left a generous bequest to Sidney Sussex College, and divided the remainder of his estate between his wife Elizabeth and his brother Randal. Elizabeth was the widow of George Montgomery, Bishop of Meath: she was the daughter of Edward Brabazon, 1st Baron Ardee and his wife Mary Smythe, and sister of William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Meath. In 1631 she remarried Sir John Bramston, the Lord Chief Justice of England. She and Bramston had been in love when they were young, but her father had forbidden the marriage. Her Bramston stepchildren described her appearance unflatteringly in her middle years as small, fat, red-faced and homely. On the other hand, they praised her as a good wife and a kindly stepmother. She died in 1647.