The first written evidence of the 'de Hoghton' family occurred around the Norman Conquest, when one of King William I's companions married the daughter of a local Baron (Bussell) and received land in Hoghton. During the Middle Ages, members of the family became Royal Standard Bearers (Knights Bannerets), Knights of the Shire, with the very beginnings of our Westminster Parliamentary system, and Crown Officials in Lancashire (Sheriffs, Foresters). All of this gave a solid base to the family in terms of land and prestige, but was quite eclipsed during the 16th/17th Centuries when, by becoming confidants of the Royal Family, the de Hoghtons shared the high honour of being created Premier Baronets of England (1611) and of helping enrich the English language by adding the word 'Sirloin' to it. This event arose in jocular spirit when King James I, staying with his kinsman, Sir Richard de Hoghton, the first Baronet, in 1617, knighted a Loin of Beef, thereby giving rise to the name we use today, 'Sirloin'.
Later the family, now using the more Anglicised name, Hoghton, played important roles in the English Civil War, later in the Jacobite Rebellions, and in the development of the 18th/19th Centuries Parliaments. It was probably due to these upheavals, especially of religion, that the two brothers, John and Ralph, left for America, thereby establishing a Hoghton presence in the New World. Later Sir Henry de Hoghton sponsored and financed an unsuccessful truce to end your own Civil War.
Finally I will end this brief history on a note of optimism, by saying that this rare and unusual continuity, by a single family, with its home and land, still hold true today. The optimism is, however, being seriously challenged, if not threatened, in the continued preservation and upkeep of historic Hoghton Tower.
--Sir Bernard de Hoghton Bt., DL