PACKER, Robert (aft.1675-1731), of Shellingford and Donnington, Berks.

Packer was the great-grandson of John Packer, M.P., who bought the manor of Shellingford in 1620 and later that of Donnington.A. L. Humphreys, Bucklebury, ped. facing p. 322; VCH Berks. iv. 92, 476. Entering Parliament at a by-election in 1712 on the elevation of his brother-in-law, Henry St. John, to the peerage, he was returned unopposed in 1715 and after contests in 1722 and 1727, voting consistently against the Government. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1722 as a Jacobite supporter.Stuart mss 65/16. A letter to Lord Harley, 14 Dec. 1725, describes him and his son as ‘helpless creatures’ for not standing up to Bolingbroke, who had cut down all the hedges and trees at Bucklebury, which his son had inherited as a minor. ‘A man of sense and spirit would make him fly his country once more’. The letter also refers to ‘poor Packer’s weakness and inactivity’.HMC Portland, vii, 409-11. He died 4 Apr. 1731.