PACKER, Robert (aft.1675-1731), of Shellingford and Donnington, Berks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

23 July 1712 - 4 Apr. 1731

Family and Education

b. aft. 1675, o.s. of John Packer of Shellingford by Elizabeth,1 da. of Richard Stephens of Eastington, Glos. m. 27 Feb. 1700, Mary, da. and coh. of Sir Henry Winchcombe, and Bt., M.P., of Bucklebury, Berks., sis. of Frances, Viscountess Bolingbroke, 4s. 1da. suc. fa. 1687.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Berks. 1708-9.

Biography

Packer was the great-grandson of John Packer, M.P., who bought the manor of Shellingford in 1620 and later that of Donnington.2 Entering Parliament at a by-election in 1712 on the elevation of his brother-in-law, Henry St. John, to the peerage, he was returned unopposed in 1715 and after contests in 1722 and 1727, voting consistently against the Government. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1722 as a Jacobite supporter.3 A letter to Lord Harley, 14 Dec. 1725, describes him and his son as ‘helpless creatures’ for not standing up to Bolingbroke, who had cut down all the hedges and trees at Bucklebury, which his son had inherited as a minor. ‘A man of sense and spirit would make him fly his country once more’. The letter also refers to ‘poor Packer’s weakness and inactivity’.4 He died 4 Apr. 1731.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

  • 1. Marriage Lics. Vic. Gen. (Harl. Soc. xxiii), 248.
  • 2. A. L. Humphreys, Bucklebury, ped. facing p. 322; VCH Berks. iv. 92, 476.
  • 3. Stuart mss 65/16.
  • 4. HMC Portland, vii, 409-11.