Buckinghamshire

“ Buckingham, the chief town of Buckinghamshire, a parliamentary and municipal borough and market-town in the hundred of the same name, 58 miles by a branch of the North-Western Railway from London, is situated on the left bank of the Eiver Ouse, which surrounds it on every side but the north and is crossed by three bridges. The town consists principally of one long street, straggling over a considerable extent of surface. The houses, which are chiefly of brick, are neat and clean, though somewhat humble in character. ”

“ Several of the villages on and near the banks of the Thames have become centres of residence, such as Taplow, Cookham and Bourne End, Burnham and Wooburn. Buckinghamshire is in the midland circuit, and assizes are held at Aylesbury. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into thirteen petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Buckingham and Wycombe have separate commissions of the peace. The administrative county contains 230 civil parishes. Buckinghamshire is almost entirely within the diocese of Oxford, and 215 ecclesiastical parishes are situated wholly or in part within it. ”

“ Buckinghamshire has always ranked as an agricultural rather than a manufacturing county, and has long been famed for its corn and cattle. Fuller mentions the vale of Aylesbury as producing the biggest bodied sheep in England, and “Buckinghamshire bread and beef” is an old proverb. Lace-making, first introduced into this county by the Fleming refugees from the Alva persecution, became a very profitable industry. ”

“ On 14 March 1794 he received the rank of colonel in the army (during service) , and during the insurrection of 1798 served in Ireland as colonel of the Buckinghamshire militia regiment. In moving the address to the House of Lords on 24 Sept. 1799, Buckingham spoke strongly in favour of the proposed union with Ireland, being ‘confident that the happiest effects would result from it’ (Plowden, Historical Review, ii. pt. ii. 978) . He died at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, on 11 Feb. 1813, aged 59, and was buried at Wotton. Buckingham was a man of considerable industry and some financial ability ”

“ The manufactures of Buckinghamshire are neither very extensive nor very important. The principal are those of lace and straw plait. The proportion of persons chiefly engaged in agriculture is about 13 per cent, of the popula tion ; in trade and manufactures about 18 per cent.
Bucks was originally divided into eighteen hundreds ; it is now divided into eight, viz., Newport, Buckingham, Ashendon, Cottesloe, Aylesbury, Burnham, Stoke, and Desborough, the last three forming what is well known as " The Chiltern Hundreds." ”

“ The said author thinks, that Buckinghamshire has its name from beech-trees, and some think from its plenty of bucks.—There are four towns in this county of Norfolk, called Buckenham, or Buckingham; all these have their site by some stream of water, or river, and are wrote in the grand survey, Bokenham, Bukenham, and Bucham. Bo, or bu, denotes the winding of any stream; thus, Bow (by Stratford) in Middlesex;—Bows in Yorkshire (the ancient Roman Levatre;) — Boethorp by Norwich.—Ken is the British name of rivers in many counties, Lancashire, Wiltshire, and Berkshire ”

“ Two miles from Tring we pass from Hertfordshire into Buckinghamshire. It remains a disputed point whether the name of the county is derived from bucken or boccen, a deer, according to Spelman, or with Lysons, boc, a charter, or with Camden from bucken, beech trees, which, as in his time, still abound and flourish. Unfortunately the state of agriculture does not allow the pastors of the country to take the ease and rest that was enjoyed by the celebrated Mr. Tityrus before the repeal of the Roman corn laws, an ease which has cost many an unfortunate schoolboy a flogging. ”

“ The interest of Domesday of course is vastly increased when we are able to supplement its details with information derived from some other contemporary record; Buckinghamshire, for example, in which county there was no religious house in 1086, is at a disadvantage compared 494with Berkshire, where the local history of Abingdon Abbey fills in the outline of the greater record, and gives life to some at least of the men of whom the names and nothing more are written in its pages. ”

“ The borough of Manchester is assessed to the poor on an annual rental of 1,200,000l., while Buckinghamshire is assessed on an annual rental only of 760,000l. The population of Buckinghamshire is 170,000, and of Manchester 240,000; and yet Buckinghamshire has eleven Members, and Manchester only two. ”

“ To these principles he has steadily adhered in the whole course of his parliamentary career, which has now spread over a term of seventeen years. No man needs to stand higher in the estimation of his party than does the member for Buckinghamshire. ”

“ App. p. 14) . In October 1766 Buckinghamshire refused Lord Shelburne's request that he would undertake a mission to Spain (Grenville Papers, 1853, iii. 328) . In spite of the king's resolution ‘not to accept of him’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. App. vi. p. 15) , Buckinghamshire was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the place of Simon, earl Harcourt [q. v.] , on 18 Dec. 1776, and arrived at Dublin on 25 Jan. 1777. During his viceroyalty free trade was granted to Ireland, and a Roman Catholic Relief Bill, as well as a bill for relieving Irish dissenters from the sacramental test, passed. ”

“ His Administration partook of the weakness of Lord North’s Government, as was too plainly shown by the embodying of the Irish volunteers, and the concessions made to Irish trade; the latter, however just, being too evidently extorted from the Government to obtain any lasting gratitude. Lord Buckinghamshire was an amiable nobleman of fair intentions and pleasing manners. He died in 1783, without male issue.—E.
48 John third Duke of Roxburgh, born in 1740, succeeded his father in 1755. ”

“ Before they reassembled at Oxford on the 1st of August, the English ships had found their way into the hands of the French, to be used against La Rochelle. The Commons met in an ill-humour. They had no confidence in Buckingham, and they asked that persons whom they could trust should be admitted to the king’s council before they would vote a penny. ”

“ If English policy was once more to become a real and serious thing, it was plain that the great need of the nation was the dismissal of Buckingham. But Charles clung to Buckingham more blindly than his father had done. The shy reserve, the slow stubborn temper of the new king found relief in the frank gaiety of the favourite, in his rapid suggestions, in the defiant daring with which he set aside all caution and opposition. James had looked on Buckingham as his pupil. ”

“ Yet no one ever thought of denouncing Buckingham or any other of the magnificos when they lolled in easy seats under the silken hangings of their state barges and were rowed by the labour of a dozen lusty oarsmen on the Thames. The work was as servile as the actual carrying of a passenger, but the innate conservatism of mankind could not at first perceive this. On the whole, Buckingham therefore has our sympathy. ”

“ The nobility and gentry bound themselves by oath to take arms and unite for the restoration of Edward V. In the midst of these movements the agitators were agreeably astonished to find themselves in possession of a most unexpected and powerful ally. This was no other than the Duke of Buckingham, the man who had so unscrupulously taken the lead in putting down all who were formidable obstacles to Richard's plans, and in bringing London to declare for him. ”

“ However, the next news of Buckingham was of such a kind that it left no room for a doubt as to their then relations, no matter what they had been previous to the Duke's departure.
"Buckingham hath rebelled against King Richard: he is now raising an army in Wales. The Earl of Richmond is coming to his aid. More war and bloodshed for poor England." Such was the intelligence that now flew on from mouth to ear throughout the land. ”

“ The adjacent mansion of Stowe, approached from the town by a magnificent avenue of elms, and surrounded by gardens very beautifully laid out, was the seat of the dukes of Buckingham until the extinction of the title in 1889. Buckingham is served by a branch of the Grand Junction Canal, and has agricultural trade, manufactures of condensed milk and artificial manure, maltings and flour-mills; while an old industry survives to a modified extent in the manufacture of pillow-lace. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. ”

“ For the time Buckingham, who urged on the war, was the most popular man in England. A large grant of supply was given, but the Commons distrusting James, ordered the money to be paid to treasurers appointed by themselves, and to be spent only upon four objects—the repairing of forts in England, the increase of the army in Ireland, the fitting-out of a fleet, and the support of the Dutch Republic, which was still at war with Spain, and of other allies of the king. ”

“ The combination of Buckingham with the two houses and the heir-apparent was irresistible. Buckingham was not content with getting his way. He must signalise in the eye of the world the hopelessness of resistance. With this object he, supported by Charles, fixed on the lord treasurer, the Earl of Middlesex, who had all along been opposed to a war with Spain. They stirred up the commons to impeach him on charges of peculation, and, though James told them that they were preparing a rod for themselves, rejoiced when the lords sentenced him to dismissal from office and to a heavy fine. ”

“ In truth, the honest pride of Englishmen began to revolt against having the relatives of the favourite forced upon them as sons-in-law. The King, however, entered in state, attended by Prince Charles and all the nobility—Buckingham, of course, a conspicuous object amid the throng. James, on this melancholy occasion, looked “more like a wooer than a mourner.” He had already laid aside his weeds for Queen Anne. ”

“ It afforded the vindictive cardinal a convenient plea for the purposes of his vengeance. Buckingham was one of the most wealthy peers in England—another cause of danger under a monarch like Henry VII.—and he was, moreover, of a bold, free, aspiring temperament; fond of the éclat of a great position, a great house and retinue. He was liberal and even lavish in his conduct, and accustomed himself to talk freely of public affairs, not even sparing the king, especially on account of his blindness in fostering so haughty an upstart as Wolsey. ”

“ Henry, Earl of Richmond, appeared with a fleet off Devonshire, but finding no one on the coast to meet him, he sailed back to St. Malo. Buckingham, who ought to have been on the look-out, was blundering about the right bank of the Severn, which he was unable to cross in consequence of the rains, when his army, finding themselves short of rations, declined continuing such a very irrational enterprise. Buckingham was left without a man, except his own servant—a fellow of the name of Banister—upon whose fidelity he threw himself. ”

“ The Duchy of Cornwall is still included in the Principality of Wales. Wiltshire only partly expresses the Shire of Wilton, a contraction of Willy-town, or the town on the river Willy. Berkshire is a modern spelling of the Anglo-Saxon Bearoc-scire, “forest shire,” in allusion to the forest districts of Bagshot and Windsor; while Buckingham was originally described as Boccenham, the Anglo-Saxon for “beech-tree-home,” this county being especially noted for its beeches. ”

“ Buckingham’s departure was preceded by the despatching of his servants with fifty geldings and nags, and twelve coach horses. His personal retinue was consistent with all this grandeur and display; it reminds one of the gorgeous pomp of Wolsey in the height of his prosperity. Twenty privy gentlemen, seven grooms of his chambers, thirty chief women, and two master cooks constituted his own peculiar servants. Three rich suits apiece were given to each of these attendants. ”

“ Whilst all this was going on, Arthur Brett, the supposed rival of Buckingham, was committed to the Fleet. By his examination it appears that, on the Duke’s going into Spain, he had desired this young man to retire to France, and he did so; but on Buckingham’s return, he could not obtain leave to come back to England, and had therefore left France without it. He was ordered back to France by the King; he pleaded his right to stay in his own country, as a free-born subject. ”

“ Buckingham, impatient to begin the war as soon as possible, persuaded Charles, and the two together persuaded James to throw over the promises to the Commons, and to accept the French terms. It was no longer possible to summon parliament to vote supplies for the war till the marriage had been completed, when remonstrances to its conditions would be useless.
Buckingham, for Buckingham was now virtually the ruler of England, had thus to commence war without money. He prepared to throw 12,000 Englishmen, under a German adventurer, Count Mansfeld, through France into the Palatinate. ”

“ It appears that Buckingham, during his stay in Spain, behaved with great insolence to the Earl of Bristol, the English ambassador at that court. In a letter, written by the Earl to king James, we have the following particulars:—“Let your Majesty call some certain men unto you, and sift out of them the opinion of the more moderate parliament-men; and enquire of those that come out of Spain, who did give the first cause of falling out? Whether the Duke of Buckingham did not many things against the authority and reverence due to the Prince? ”