BREEDON, John (c.1622-85), of Bere Court, Pangbourne, Berks.

Breedon’s father, the son of a Buckinghamshire glover, held the living of Croughton without interruption from 1631 till his death in 1663. Breedon himself was apprenticed to a London tradesman, but he acquired his considerable wealth as a partner with Sir William Bucknall in the excise farm. He fined for alderman in 1667, and in 1671 bought Pangbourne manor, six miles from Reading, which became the family seat. A strong Tory, he was invited by the corporation to stand for Reading in 1685 and granted the freedom of the borough four days before the election. He was duly returned, but the election was declared void because the Whigs had been denied a poll. He was re-elected four days later, but left no trace on the records of James II’s Parliament. He died during the recess on 16 Aug., aged 63, and was buried at Pangbourne. A great-nephew inherited his estates in Middlesex and Hertfordshire as well as in Berkshire. Besides generous legacies he endowed a school at Pangbourne on condition that the Anglican catechism should be taught there. He was the only member of his family to sit in Parliament.PCC 55 Hele; N. and Q. (ser. ix), 453; Beaven, Aldermen of London , i. 163; VCH Berks. iii. 304; HMC 11th Rep. VII, 199; CJ, ix. 716, 746; PCC 117 Cann; M.I. Pangbourne.