Elizabeth Puckering 1621/2-1689

Elizabeth PUCKERING or MURRAY 1621/2-1689

Biographical Note

Daughter of Thomas Murray, tutor to Prince Charles and Provost of Eton. Around 1640 she married Henry Newton, 3rd bart, of Charlton House, Kent; in the 1650s, after inheriting an estate at The Priory, Warwick, he changed his name to Puckering and the family moved there.

Books

Henry Puckering assembled a considerable library, some of it inherited from Sir John Puckering (1544-96) and other ancestors, which he gave to Trinity College, Cambridge between 1691 and 1701. It includes numerous books inscribed by, or associated with, Elizabeth, including many copies of plays, poetry and romances, much of it in English but including some French books. Other subjects include gardening, and theology. Examples: many in Trinity College, Cambridge; Quaritch catalogue 1370 (2008)/72.

Characteristic Markings

Puckering usually inscribed her books with her name on the flyleaf, and her initials EP near the beginning of the first line of text. She did not generally otherwise annotate her books.

Sources

• Broadway, Jan. '"Puckering [formerly Newton, Sir Henry, third baronet (bap. 1618, d. 1701), royalist army officer and local politician."]' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• McKitterick, D. Women and their books in the 17th century: the case of Elizabeth Puckering, The Library 7th ser 1 (2000), 359-80.
• McKitterick, D. The making of the Wren Library, 1995, 56-8.