merchant, beloved by three English Monarchs; and that he died
very rich, having lived four-score years-
"The greatest part in one chaste wedlock spent;
Utrecht his cradle-Tylehurst loves his tomb."
Sir Peter is supposed to have had a temporary interest in the Manor
of Tylehurst by alliance with the Kendricks.
1623-44. John Chamberlayne is described in the Rolls of the
College of Arms for 1623, as of "Donnington Castle," Berks;* and
Symonds, the writer of the "Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army,"
informs us that the Castle in 1644 was "the habitacion of Mr. Packer,
who bought it of Mr. Chamberlayne." A diligent search at the Record
Office has failed to find a license given to Anne Howard to alienate,
or a transfer to Chamberlayne; but this is no reason for doubting
Symonds's statement. There is a John Chamberlayne described as of
Sherborne, Co. Oxon ("Close Roll," 22 James I., p. 16, m. 5); and
another John Chamberlayne, as of Beaulieu, Co. Southampton ("Close
Roll," 19 James I., p. 11, m. 7). The latter is most probably the
person who was for a short time the owner of the Castle.f
At the commencement of the Civil War, the Castle was unquestion-
ably the property of John Packer, Esq., and in his hands when it was
garrisoned for the King. Mr. Packer was born at Twickenham,
Middlesex, about 1572, and appears to have been in public employ-
ment (at one time in the Signet Office); and to have been of consider-
able social distinction. A letter, dated 17 January, 1610, addressed
by him to Sir Thomas Edmonds, Ambassador at the Court of
Brussels, will be found in the "Court and Times of James the First;"
1848, vol. i. p. 104: and Camden, in his "Annals," states that the
Marquis of Buckingham, Baron Haye, and the Countess of Dorset were
sponsors at the baptism of one of Mr. Packer's children, in West-
minster Church, 24 June, 1618. It is probable that he acted as
Secretary to George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham.
buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster, 15 February, 1649.
His will, dated 20th July, 1645, with a codicil, dated 2nd May, 1648,
was proved, 27 Nov., 16-19, by his relict Philippa. He was residing in
a house within the College of Westminster, but described himself as
of Shellingford, co. Berks, Esq.; and stated that his lands had been
sequestered by the King's forces, excepting the Manor of Groombridge
(in Speldhurst), Kent, where he had built a chapel, and which
he bequeathed to one of his sons, who still held it in 1696. He
had married Philippa Mills, of the city of Westminster, gentle-
woman, daughter of Francis Mills, Esq., of Southampton. ‡
letter, dated 12th Dec., 1604, written by John Packer to Sir Ralph
Winwood, he speaks of his "good friend" Sir Thomas Lake
(Principal Secretary of State to James I.), who first procured him the
* "Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club," vol. ii, p. 39.
We may also mention that a John Chamberlayne had been Mayor of
Newbury in 1601; and that this name frequently occurs in the town records
about this period.
See note to the baptism of Mr. Packer's daughter, in the "Westminster
Abbey Registers," edited by Col. J. L. Chester, p. 65.
reversion to the Privy Seal; and he mentions that he is "now at the Court." Sir Dudley Carleton, writing to Sir Ralph Winwood in 1610, refers to Mr. Packer as having been sent as Envoy to Denmark, and alludes to "John Chamberlaine," with whom Mr. Packer was, it seems, familiar.
In 1647, 23 Charles I., John Packer, of Donnington Castle, was one of the Committee appointed by an ordinance of the Parliament for the "Visitation and Reformation of the University of Oxford." His sons, Robert and Philip, were members of University College, and subscribers to the new works at that College about 1675; and in one of the windows of the Hall are inserted the arms of the Packers-Gules, a cross lozengy, between four roses argent. Their brother, William, was one of the "Tryers for Approbation of Public Preachers" in 1653. The residence of the Packers at Shellingford, about two miles to the north-east of Faringdon, was an ancient stone building, called "Shellingford Castle." It remained unoccupied many years, and was at last taken down. A few outbuildings, a large walled garden and some plantations of yew, surrounding a fish-pond, are now all that remain to indicate the dwelling-place of this once important family. Mr. Robert Packer, M.P. for Wallingford in the Long Parliament, and who died in 1684, appears to have been among those members, some of whom were imprisoned or secluded, and others seized by the army on the 6th December, 1648, for having voted the day previously, "That the King's answers to the proposition of both Houses were a ground for peace."
After the Civil War was over, Mr. John Packer had some of the ruinous parts of the battered Castle taken down; and with the materials he erected the mansion now standing near it, and called "DonningtonCastle House."
|