and sent to a prison in Wales. In 1948, he was returned
to Germany to stand trial, but by then his health was in
complete decline. He died in Hamburg, Germany, on
18 October 1948, before his trial could begin. He was
just two weeks past his 67th birthday.
References: Keegan, John, and Andrew Wheatcroft,
“Brauchitsch, Walther von,” in Who’s Who in Military
History from 1453 to the Present Day (London: Routledge,
1996), 39; Hart, W. E., Hitler’s Generals (Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1944); Dutch, Oswald,
Hitler’s 12 Apostles (New York: R. M. McBride & Com-
pany, 1940).
Brereton, Sir William (1604–1661) English
general
Sir William Brereton was born in 1604, the son of Wil-
liam Brereton of Handforth, Cheshire, and baptized
at Manchester; he was six when his father died. He at-
tended Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1621, but appar-
ently never graduated. In 1627, he was created a baronet
due to his family’s wealth and standing. That same year,
he won a seat in Parliament from Cheshire, but he only
served a short time before he gave it up. In 1634 and
1635, he traveled around England, Ireland, and Hol-
land, and kept a diary of his travels. In 1640, having
returned to England, he was elected again to Parliament
and this time served in the two sessions of the House of
Commons known as the Short and Long Parliaments
because of their length of session.
A strong critic of the government of Charles I,
Brereton became a leader of Parliamentarian force be-
ginning to rise against the king. In 1642, the leaders of
the House of Commons appointed him one of the par-
liamentary deputies. When war finally broke out, Brere-
ton was named as commander in chief of the troops in
the Cheshire area. At Nantwich on 28 January 1643, he
defeated the Royalist army under Sir Thomas Acton, a
victory that made Nantwich the capital of the Parlia-
mentary forces. In March, he marched on Middlewich,
where he inflicted another serious defeat on Acton (12
March 1643); however, when Royalist reinforcements
arrived, Brereton’s forces were forced to retreat.
In summer 1643, Brereton’s troops captured the
towns of Stafford, Whitechurch, and Wolverhampton.
During this period of activity, Nantwich, his headquar-
ters, was placed under siege by Lord Byron. Brereton,
with the assistance of Parliamentarian commander Sir
Thomas fairfax, attacked Byron’s forces on 14 Febru-
ary 1644, forcing the surrender of a number of royalist
troops. Marching toward Cheshire, Brereton defeated
Prince ruPert at Tarvin (August 1644). His victories
against the Royalists at Rowton Heath (September 1645)
and Denbigh (1 November 1645, defeating the Royal-
ist general Sir William Vaughan), helped to weaken the
Royalist armies, as did his successful 12-month siege of
Chester in 1644–45. Brereton’s victory over Lord Ashley
at Stow-in-the-Wold on 22 May 1646 was the last major
fight against the Royalists in the first English Civil War.
His successes were an important factor in the Parliamen-
tary victory.
Retiring at the end of the conflict, Brereton may
have served as a judge in the trial of Charles I, who was
executed in January 1649, but this is unconfirmed. He
died in Croydon, near London, on 7 April 1661, and his
body was taken north to Cheadle. Although there is a
legend that Brereton’s coffin was lost in a flood, his fam-
ily believes he lies in the family vault in Cheadle. Despite
being mentioned often in histories of the English Civil
War, Brereton’s name is largely forgotten today.References: Henderson, Thomas Finlayson, “Brereton,
Sir William,” in The Dictionary of National Biography, 22
vols., 8 supps., edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney
Lee, et al. (London: Oxford University Press, 1921–22),
II:1179–1180; Stoye, John, English Travellers Abroad,
1604–1667: Their Influence in English Society and Politics
(London: Jonathan Cape, 1952), 174; A True and Fuller
Relation of the Battell [sic] Fought at Stow in the Would [sic],
March 21. 1645. Between the Forces under Sir William
Brereton, Coll: Morgan, and the Lord Ashley.... (London:
Printed for Tho. Underhill, 1646), 1–3; Brereton, Wil-
liam, Sir, The Letter Books of Sir William Brereton, 2 vols.,
edited by R. N. Dore (Chester, U.K.: Record Society of
Lancashire and Cheshire, 1984–90), II:220–400.Brock, Sir Isaac (1769–1812) British general
Sir Isaac Brock was born at Guernsey, in the Channel Is-
lands, on 6 October 1769, the scion of a wealthy family.
Historian David Breakenridge Read, in his 1894 biogra-
phy of Brock, writes: “Major-General Sir Isaac Brock was
of the very reputable family of Brock of Guernsey, one
of the Channel Islands. There was, indeed, a Sir Hugh
Brock, an English knight, who, in the reign of EdwardbRock, SiR iSAAc