Henry Puckering 1618-1701

From Book Owners Online

Sir Henry PUCKERING or NEWTON, 3rd bart 1618-1701

Biographical Note

Born in London, son of Sir Adam Newton, 1st bart, of Charlton House, Kent. He inherited the baronetcy and family estate from his elder brother in the early 1630s. After being admitted at the Inner Temple in 1632, he spent time travelling in Europe before entering service at court. He married Elizabeth Murray ca.1640. He served in the royalist army in the 1640s before compounding for his estates in 1646. In the 1650s he inherited a major estate at The Priory, Warwick from his uncle Sir Thomas Puckering; he changed his name to Puckering and the family moved there. He was MP for Warwickshire in 1661, and for Warwick in 1679, and held various local administrative offices in Warwickshire. After his wife's death in 1689 he retired from public life and spent some of his final years at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Books

Puckering assembled a considerable library, some of it inherited from Sir John Puckering (1544-96) and other ancestors. He gave most of his books to Trinity College in 1691, with the remainder bequeathed at his death. These books include some which belonged to Elizabeth, with her inscriptions. The library is wide-ranging in content, and includes material acquired by Henry during his European travels in the 1630s, as well as literature, politics and theology. Examples: many in Trinity College, Cambridge.

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.