Sir John Pakington

Cynthia Glover

04 November 2015, 01:34

Sir. Knight of the Bath, 1587. Of Aylesbury, John was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, graduated B.A. on 13 December 1569, and was a student of Lincoln's Inn in 1570. Heir apparent of his father. A courtier in the reigns of Elizabeth i and James i. He was a favourite of Elizabeth who nicknamed him "Lusty" Pakington for his physique, his great strength and sporting abilities. Away from Court he held a number of official positions including Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1595 and in 1607; JP, 1607. He first attracted Elizabeth's notice in her progress to Worcester in August 1570 when she invited him to Court. In London, he lived for a few years in great splendour and outran his fortune. He was 'remarkable for his wit and the beauty of his person.' He was good-looking and stood over 6 feet tall. The Queen took great pleasure in his athletic achievements. It is said that he once laid a wager with three other courtiers to swim from the palace of Westminster to London Bridge but the Queen forbade the match. His days at Court are perhaps also commemorated in the piece of Elizabethan dance music entitled, "Pakington's Pound." Deputy-Lieut. for Worcester, 1587 - 1601. In 1593, he was granted a patent for starch. The Queen, to help him in his financial difficulties, made him a bow-bearer of Malvern Chase, one of the best parks in its day and is said to have given him a valuable estate in Suffolk; but when he went to the place and saw the distress of the widow and children of the former owner he begged to have the property transferred to her. Strict economy and a period of retirement enabled him to pay his debts, and a wealthy marriage to the widow, Dorothy BARNHAM (nee SMITH) greatly improved his position. The union between them was not a happy one. Early in 1607, Sir John 'and his little violent lady' .....parted upon foul terms. In 1617, she appealed to the law, and PAKINGTON was forced to appear before the court of high commission, and 'was committed to gaol.' It was the unpleasant duty of the Attorney-General, Francis BACON, son-in-law of Lady Dorothy, to give an opinion against her. (Francis was married to Alice BARNHAM). The decision went against Lady Dorothy. "Great wars between Sir Johnand his lady."At one time, on the occasion of a stormy scene between Lady Pakington and Sir John, the latter had ordered her out of his house, and in a mad rage the lady had packed her boxes and started off from Westwood Park, hoping that the powerful Sir Francis BACON would protect his mother-in-law and her interests. On the journey to London from Westwood her trunks were lost, and this enraged her still more, and she declared it was a trick of Sir John's to annoy her and that he had kept them back. She took very strong measures and even appealed to the Privy Council for a "General Warrant of Search," and made a disturbance all round over the stealing and straying of her boxes of frills and furbelows. Finding that her son-in-law utterly refused to have anything to do with a woman whose husband had turned her out, she hinted that as he had treated his mother-in-law in this heartless manner, that perhaps someday he would also turn his wife out of doors, which strange prophecy came true to a certain extent. Bacon certainly failed then in "the taming of the shrew." His opinion of her can best be shown by a letter he wrote to her in reply. "Madam You shall with right good will be made acquainted with anything that concerneth your daughter if you bear a mind of love and concord, otherwise you must be content to be a stranger to us; for I may not be so unwise as to suffer you to be an author or occasion of dissension between your daughters and their husbands, having seen so much misery of that in yourself. And above all things I will turn back your kindness in which you say you will receive my wife if she be cast off; for it is much more likely we have occasion to receive you being cast off, if you remember what is passed. But it is time to make an end of those follies, and you shall at this time pardon me this one fault of writing to you, for I mean to do it no more till you use me and respect me as you ought. So wishing you better than it seemeth you will draw upon yourself, I rest yours, FR. BACON." Sir John devoted much attention to building and to improving his estates in Worcestershire. The central portion of the house at Westwood which after the Civil War became the residence of the family, was PAKINGTON's work. In June 1603 he entertained King James i with great magnificence at his home in Aylesbury. 'Sir John died in his bed, an honest and a happy man' - in his 77th year.