Family and Education

b. by 1488, 1st s. of John Pakington by Elizabeth, da. of Thomas Washborne of Stanford-le-Teme, Worcs.; bro. of Robert. educ. I. Temple. m. by 1530, Anne, da. of Henry Dacres of London, wid. of Robert Fairethwatt of London, at least 1s. d.v.p. 2da. Kntd. 23 Nov. 1546/9 Feb. 1547.3

Offices Held

Christmas butler, I. Temple 1512, marshal 1515, auditor 1516-17, Lent reader 1520, 1528, treasurer 1528-33, gov. 1536.

Chirographer, c.p. 17 June 1509-d.; j.p. Glos. 1515-d., Mdx. 1524-d., N. Wales, Worcs. 1532-d., Herefs., Staffs. 1537-d., Cheshire, Salop 1539-d., Mon. 1543; commr. subsidy, Gloucester 1515, Mdx. 1523, 1524, chantries, Brec., Card., Carm., Glam., Rad. 1546, Herefs., Worcs. 1546, 1548, relief, Salop, Worcs. 1550; serjeant-at-law 1 Nov. 1531; member, council in the marches of Wales in 1534; sheriff, Herefs. 1538-9, Worcs. 1540-1; recorder, Worcester by 1539-d.; custos rot. Worcs. 31 Aug. 1540; justice, Brec., Glam. and Rad. 1541-50.4

Biography

Whether the John Pakington who obtained the lease of some property near Gloucester in June 1513 was the young lawyer or his father is not certain, but that it was the younger man who was chosen to serve for the town in the Parliament of 1515 is consonant with Pakington’s appointment to the Gloucestershire bench in the same year and his remaining on it until his death. Between the Parliament’s two sessions he and his fellow-Member Thomas Porter nominated the town’s collectors for the recently granted subsidy. His Membership in 1515 may have marked the beginning of a parliamentary career of which, owing to the gaps in the evidence, we have only one further glimpse. He could have sat in 1523, a Parliament for which few names of Members survive, have been by-elected to the Parliament of 1529 and thus also have been returned again in 1536, and even have sat again for Worcestershire in 1545 (when the knights for that shire are unknown). The fact that, when elected in 1539, he was sheriff of the neighbouring county of Hereford may indicate not only that Cromwell wanted him in the House but also that he too was eager to sit there. One of the measures debated during the third session and enacted as the Statute of Fines (32 Hen. VIII, c.36) proved to concern him as chirographer of common pleas and on 19 May 1540 Bishop Rowland Lee appealed to Cromwell to protect his interests in that office.5

After 20 or more years of regular attendance at his inn and of practice both in London and the country, Pakington was exempted in 1529 from wearing his hat in the King’s presence, taking the order of knighthood and being made a baron of the Exchequer or a serjeant-at-law. Two of these were, however, to be disregarded.6

In 1531 Cromwell acted as counsel in a case against Pakington and his brother Robert. Later that year Cromwell received a fine of £267 from him for an unspecified misdemeanour, which appears to have been the reason behind a temporary coolness between the two. Pakington’s ability was such, however, that when Christopher Hales recommended on 9 Nov. 1532 that he should be made justice of North Wales, Cromwell acquiesced. Within two years Pakington was also appointed to the council in the marches of Wales, of which he became an active member. Thereafter the two corresponded frequently on administrative and personal matters, Cromwell several times interceding with the King to compensate Pakington for his expenses in Wales.7

By marriage Pakington was well connected: his wife’s brothers-in-law included Robert Cheseman, George Rolle and Robert Dacres, the Privy Councillor, while his brother’s father-in-law was (Sir) John Baldwin. From 1521, when he bought the manor of Extons, Pakington regularly purchased land in Worcestershire, where he had been born, until by the time of his death he owned a not insignificant estate. His most important acquisitions were the manor of Hampton Lovett in 1528 and the lease of Westwood priory in 1539. Pakington died at Hampton Lovett on 21 Aug. 1551, five days after making his will, and was buried in the chapel of St. Anne in the parish church despite his own wish to be interred in the chancel. He had made provision for his wife and his daughters, Bridget, wife of John Lyttleton, and Ursula, wife of William Scudamore, and left numerous small bequests to kinsmen, friends and charities. Pakington’s sons had predeceased him without issue so that he was succeeded by his nephew Thomas Pakington.8

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard

Notes

• 1. E179/279/3, m. 23.
• 2. E159/319, brev. ret. Mich. r. [1-2].
• 3. Date of birth estimated from first office. Vis. Worcs. (Harl. Soc. xxvii), 102; LP Hen. VIII, xxi; CPR, 1547-8, pp. 11-12; C142/140/196; PCC 30 Bucke; DNB.
• 4. LP Hen. VIII, i-v, viii, xi-xv; Cal. I.T. Recs. i. 98; Statutes, iii. 171; CPR, 1549-51, pp. 211-12; 1553, pp. 358-9, 362; A. D. Dyer, Worcester in 16th Cent. 201.
• 5. LP Hen. VIII, i. xv; E179/279/3, m. 23.
• 6. LP Hen. VIII, iv.
• 7. Ibid. v-vii, x, xii, xiv, xv; Strype, Eccles. Memorials, ii(2), 161.
• 8. VCH Worcs. ii. 151; iii. 7, 16, 25-26, 39, 82, 128, 154, 156-7, 234, 262; iv. 228, 234; C142/93/102; Pevsner, Worcs. 183; PCC 30 Bucke.