Chapter 66

Buckingham (Bochingeham, Bukyngham) was an important stronghold in pre-Conquest times, and in 918 Edward the Elder encamped there with his army for four weeks, and threw up two forts on either side of the water. At the time of the Domesday survey there were twenty-six burgesses in Buckingham, which, together with the hamlet of Bourton, was assessed at one hide. Although it appears as a borough thus early, the town received no charter until 1554, when Queen Mary created it a free borough corporate with a bailiff, twelve principal burgesses and a steward, and defined the boundaries as extending in width from Dudley bridge to Thornborowe bridge and in length from Chackmore bridge to Padbury Mill bridge. A charter from Charles II. in 1684 was very shortly abandoned in favour of the original grant, which held force until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. In 1529 and from 1545 onwards Buckingham returned two members to parliament, until deprived by the Representation of the People Act of 1867 of one member, and by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 of the other. Early mentions occur of markets and fairs, and from 1522, when Henry VIII. granted to Sir Henry Marney the borough of Buckingham with a Saturday market and two annual fairs, grants of fairs by various sovereigns were numerous. Buckingham was formerly an important agricultural centre, and Edward III. fixed here one of the staples for wool, but after the removal of these to Calais the trade suffered such decay that in an act of 32 Henry VIII. Buckingham is mentioned among thirty-six impoverished towns.

BUCKINGHAM AND NORMANBY, JOHN SHEFFIELD, 1ST DUKE OF (1648-1721), English statesman and poet, was born on [v.04 p.0673] the 7th of April 1648. He was the son of Edmund, 2nd earl of Mulgrave, and succeeded to that title on his father's death in 1658. At the age of eighteen he joined the fleet, to serve in the first Dutch war; on the renewal of hostilities in 1672 he was present at the battle of Southwold Bay, and in the next year received the command of a ship. He was also made a colonel of infantry, and served for some time under Turenne. In 1680 he was put in charge of an expedition sent to relieve the town of Tangier. It was said that he was provided with a rotten ship in the hope that he would not return, but the reason of this abortive plot, if plot there was, is not exactly ascertained. At court he took the side of the duke of York, and helped to bring about Monmouth's disgrace. In 1682 he was dismissed from the court, apparently for putting himself forward as a suitor for the princess Anne, but on the accession of King James he received a seat in the privy council, and was made lord chamberlain. He supported James in his most unpopular measures, and stayed with him in London during the time of his flight. He also protected the Spanish ambassador from the dangerous anger of the mob. He acquiesced, however, in the Revolution, and in 1694 was made marquess of Normanby. In 1696 he refused in company with other Tory peers to sign an agreement to support William as their "rightful and lawful king" against Jacobite attempts, and was consequently dismissed from the privy council. On the accession of Anne, with whom he was a personal favourite, he became lord privy seal and lord-lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1703 duke of Buckingham and Normanby. During the predominance of the Whigs between 1705 and 1710, Buckingham was deprived of his office as lord privy seal, but in 1710 he was made lord steward, and in 1711 lord president of the council. After the death of Anne he held no state appointment. He died on the 24th of February 1721 at his house in St James's Park, which stood on the site of the present Buckingham Palace. Buckingham was succeeded by his son, Edmund (1716-1735) on whose death the titles became extinct.

Buckingham, who is better known by his inherited titles as Lord Mulgrave, was the author of "An Account of the Revolution" and some other essays, and of numerous poems, among them the _Essay on Poetry_ and the _Essay on Satire_. It is probable that the _Essay on Satire_, which attacked many notable persons, "sauntering Charles" amongst others, was circulated in MS. It was often attributed at the time to Dryden, who accordingly suffered a thrashing at the hands of Rochester's bravoes for the reflections it contained upon the earl. Mulgrave was a patron of Dryden, who may possibly have revised it, but was certainly not responsible, although it is commonly printed with his works. Mulgrave adapted Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_, breaking it up into two plays, _Julius Caesar_ and _Marcus Brutus_. He introduced choruses between the acts, two of these being written by Pope, and an incongruous love scene between Brutus and Portia. He was a constant friend and patron of Pope, who expressed a flattering opinion of his _Essay on Poetry_. This, although smoothly enough written, deals chiefly with commonplaces.

In 1721 Edmund Curll published a pirated edition of his works, and was brought before the bar of the House of Lords for breach of privilege accordingly. An authorized edition under the superintendence of Pope appeared in 1723, but the authorities cut out the "Account of the Revolution" and "The Feast of the Gods" on account of their alleged Jacobite tendencies. These were printed at the Hague in 1727. Pope disingenuously repudiated any knowledge of the contents. Other editions reappeared in 1723, 1726, 1729, 1740 and 1753. His _Poems_ were included in Johnson's and other editions of the British poets.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, EARLS OF. The first earl of Buckinghamshire (to be distinguished from the earls of Buckingham, _q.v._) was John Hobart (c. 1694-1756), a descendant of Sir Henry Hobart (d. 1625), attorney-general and chief justice of the common pleas under James I., who was made a baronet in 1611, and who was the great-grandson of Sir James Hobart (d. 1507), attorney-general to Henry VII. The Hobarts had been settled in Norfolk and Suffolk for many years, when in 1728 John Hobart, who was a son of Sir Henry Hobart, the 4th baronet (d. 1698), was created Baron Hobart of Blickling. In 1740 Hobart became lord-lieutenant of Norfolk and in 1746 earl of Buckinghamshire, his sister, Henrietta Howard, countess of Suffolk, being the mistress of George II. He died on the 22nd of September 1756, and was succeeded as 2nd earl[1] by his eldest son John (1723-1793), who was member of parliament for Norwich and comptroller of the royal household before his accession to the title. From 1762 to 1766 he was ambassador to Russia, and from 1776 to 1780 lord-lieutenant of Ireland, but he was hardly equal to the exceptional difficulties with which he had to deal in the latter position. He died without sons at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, on the 3rd of August 1793, when his half-brother George (c. 1730-1804), became 3rd earl. Blickling Hall and his Norfolk estates, however, passed to his daughter, Henrietta (1762-1805), the wife of William Kerr, afterwards 6th marquess of Lothian.

Robert Hobart, 4th earl of Buckinghamshire (1760-1816), the eldest son of the 3rd earl, was born on the 6th of May 1760. He was a soldier, and then a member of both the English and the Irish Houses of Commons; from 1789 to 1793 he was chief secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, exerting his influence in this country to prevent any concessions to the Roman Catholics. In 1793, being known by the courtesy title of Lord Hobart, he was sent to Madras as governor, but in 1798, after serious differences between himself and the governor-general of India, Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth, he was recalled. Returning to British politics, Hobart was called up to the House of Lords in 1798 (succeeding to the earldom of Buckinghamshire in 1804); he favoured the union between England and Ireland; from March 1801 to May 1804 he was secretary for war and the colonies (his family name being taken for Hobart Town in Tasmania), and in 1805 he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster under Pitt. For a short time he was joint postmaster-general, and from 1812 until his death on the 4th of February 1816 he was president of the Board of Control, a post for which his Indian experience had fitted him.

The 4th earl left no sons, and his titles passed to his nephew, George Robert Hobart (1789-1849), a son of George Vere Hobart (1761-1802), lieutenant-governor of Grenada. In 1824 the 5th earl inherited the Buckinghamshire estates of the Hampden family and took the name of Hampden, his ancestor, Sir John Hobart, 3rd baronet, having married Mary Hampden about 1655. On his death in February 1849 his brother, Augustus Edward Hobart (1793-1884), who took the name of Hobart-Hampden in 1878, became 6th earl. His two sons, Vere Henry, Lord Hobart (1818-1875), governor of Madras from 1872, and Frederick John Hobart (1821-1875), predeceased him, and when the 6th earl died he was succeeded by his grandson, Sidney Carr Hobart-Hampden (b. 1860), who became 7th earl of Buckinghamshire, and who added to his name that of Mercer-Henderson. Another of the 6th earl's sons was Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden, generally known as Hobart Pasha (_q.v._).

See Lord Hobart's _Essays and Miscellaneous Writings_, edited with biography by Lady Hobart (1885).

[1] Until 1784, when George Grenville, Earl Temple, was created marquess of Buckingham, the 2nd earl of Buckinghamshire always signed himself "Buckingham"; his contemporaries knew him by this name, and hence a certain amount of confusion has arisen.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE (abbreviated _Bucks_) a south midland county of England, bounded N. by Northamptonshire, E. by Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex, S. for a short distance by Surrey, and by Berkshire, and W. by Oxfordshire. Its area is 743.2 sq. m. The county is divided between the basins of the rivers Ouse and Thames. The first in its uppermost course forms part of the north-western boundary, passes the towns of Buckingham, Stony Stratford, Wolverton, Newport Pagnell and Olney, and before quitting the county forms a short stretch of the north-eastern boundary. The principal tributary it receives within the county is the Ouzel. The Thames forms the entire southern boundary; and of its tributaries Buckinghamshire includes the upper part of the Thames. To the north-west of Buckingham, and both east and west of the Ouzel, the land rises in gentle undulations to a height of nearly 500 ft., and north of the Thames valley a few nearly isolated hills stand boldly, such as Brill Hill and Muswell Hill, each over 600 ft., but the hilliest [v.04 p.0674] part of the county is the south, which is occupied by part of the Chiltern system, the general direction of which is from south-west to north-east. The crest-line of these hills crosses the county at its narrowest point, along a line, above the towns of Prince's Risborough and Wendover, not exceeding 11 m. in length. This line divides the county into two parts of quite different physical character; for to the south almost the whole land is hilly (the longer slope of the Chiltern system lying in this direction), well wooded, and pleasantly diversified with narrow vales. The chief of these are watered by the Wye, Misbourne and Chess streams. The beech tree is predominant in the woods, in so much that William Camden, writing c. 1585, supposed the county to take name from this feature (A.S. _boc_, beech). In the south a remnant of ancient forest is preserved as public ground under the name of Burnham Beeches. The Chilterns reach a height of nearly 900 ft. within the county.

_Geology._--The northern half of the county is occupied by Jurassic strata, in the southern half Cretaceous rocks predominate except in the south-eastern corner, where they are covered by Tertiary beds. Thus the oldest rocks are in the north, succeeded continuously by younger strata to the south; the general dip of all the rocks is south-easterly. A few patches of Upper Lias Clay appear near the northern boundary near Grafton Regis and Castle Thorpe, and again in the valley of the Ouse near Stoke Goldington and Weston Underwood. The Oolitic series is represented by the Great Oolite, with limestones in the upper part, much quarried for building stones at Westbury, Thornborough, Brock, Whittlewood Forest, &c.; the lower portions are more argillaceous. The Forest Marble is seen about Thornton as a thin bed of clay with an oyster-bearing limestone at the base. Next above is the Cornbrash, a series of rubbly and occasionally hard limestones and thin clays. The outcrop runs by Tingwick, Buckingham, Berehampton and Newport Pagnell, it is quarried at Wolverton and elsewhere for road metal. Inliers of these rocks occur at Marsh Gibbon and Stan Hill. The Oxford Clay and Kimmeridge Clay, with the Gault, lie in the vale of Aylesbury. The clay is covered by numerous outliers of Portland, Purbeck and Lower Greensand beds. The Portland beds are sandy below, calcareous above; the outcrop follows the normal direction in the county, from south-west to north-east, from Thame through Aylesbury; they are quarried at several places for building stone and fossils are abundant. The Hartwell Clay is in the Lower Portland. Freshwater Purbeck beds lie below the Portland and Lower Greensand beds; they cap the ridge between Oving and Whitchurch. Glass-making sands have been worked from the Lower Greensand at Hartwell, and phosphatic nodules from the same beds at Brickhill as well as from the Gault at Towersey. A broad band of Gault, a bluish clay, extends from Towersey across the county in a north-easterly direction. Resting upon the Gault is the Upper Greensand; at the junction of the two formations numerous springs arise, a circumstance which has no doubt determined the site of several villages. The Chalk rises abruptly from the low lying argillaceous plain to form the Chiltern Hills. The form of the whole of the hilly district round Chesham, High Wycombe and the Chalfonts is determined by the Chalk. Reading beds, mottled clays and sands, repose upon the Chalk at Woburn, Barnham, Fulmer and Denham, and these are in turn covered by the London Clay, which is exposed on the slopes about Stoke Common and Iver. Between the Tertiary-capped Chalk plateau and the Thames, a gentler slope, covered with alluvial gravel and brick earth, reaches down to the river. Thick deposits of plateau gravel cover most of the high ground in the southern corner of the county, while much of the northern part is obscured by glacial clays and gravels.

_Industries._--The agricultural capacities of the soil vary greatly in different localities. On the lower lands, especially in the Vale of Aylesbury, about the headwaters of the Thame, it is extremely fertile; while on the hills it is usually poor and thin. The proportion of cultivated land is high, being about 83% of the whole. Of this a large and growing portion is in permanent pasture; cattle and sheep being reared in great numbers for the London markets, to which also are sent quantities of ducks, for which the district round Aylesbury is famous. Wheat and oats are the principal grain crops, though both decrease in importance. Turnips and swedes for the cattle are the chief green crops; and dairy-farming is largely practised. There is no general manufacturing industry, but a considerable amount of lace-making and straw-plaiting is carried on locally; and at High Wycombe and in its neighbourhood there is a thriving trade in various articles of turnery, such as chairs and bowls, from beech and other hard woods. The introduction of lace-making in this and neighbouring counties is attributed to Flemish, and later to French immigrants, but also to Catharine of Aragon during her residence (c. 1532) at Ampthill. Down to the later part of the 19th century a general holiday celebrated by lace-makers on the 25th of November was known as "Cattarn's Day."

_Communications._--The main line of the London & North-Western railway crosses the north-east part of the county. Bletchley is an important junction on this system, branches diverging east to Fenny Stratford, Bedford and Cambridge, and west to Oxford and Banbury, Buckingham being served by the western branch. There is also a branch from Cheddington to Aylesbury. The Metropolitan-Great Central joint line serves Amersham, Chesham (by a branch), and Aylesbury, joining the North-Western Oxford branch at Verney Junction; this line is used by the Great Central railway, the main line of which continues north-westward from Quainton Road. A light railway connects this station with the large village of Brill to the south-west. The Great Central and the Great Western companies jointly own a line passing through Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, and Prince's Risborough, which is connected northward with the Great Central system. Before the opening of this line in 1906 the Great Western branch from Maidenhead to Oxford was the only line serving High Wycombe and Prince's Risborough, from which there are branches to Watlington and Aylesbury. The main line of this company crosses the extreme south of the county by Slough and Taplow. The Grand Junction Canal, reaching the valley of the Ouse by way of the Ouzel valley from the south, has branches to Aylesbury and to Buckingham. Except the Thames none of the rivers in the county is continuously navigable.

Bletchley is an important junction on this system, branches diverging east to Fenny Stratford, Bedford and Cambridge, and west to Oxford and Banbury, Buckingham being served by the western branch. There is also a branch from Cheddington to Aylesbury. The Metropolitan-Great Central joint line serves Amersham, Chesham (by a branch), and Aylesbury, joining the North-Western Oxford branch at Verney Junction; this line is used by the Great Central railway, the main line of which continues north-westward from Quainton Road. A light railway connects this station with the large village of Brill to the south-west. The Great Central and the Great Western companies jointly own a line passing through Beaconsfield, High Wycombe. and Prince's Risborough, which is connected northward with the Great Central system. Before the opening of this line in 1906 the Great Western branch from Maidenhead to Oxford was the only line serving High Wycombe and Prince's Risborough, from which there are branches to Watlington and Aylesbury. The main line of this company crosses the extreme south of the county by Slough and Taplow. The Grand Junction Canal, reaching the valley of the Ouse by way of the Ouzel valley from the south, has branches to Aylesbury and to Buckingham. Except the Thames none of the rivers in the county is continuously navigable.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is 475,682 acres, with a population in 1891 of 185,284, and in 1901 of 195,764. The area of the administrative county is 479,358 acres. The county contains eight hundreds, of which three, namely Stoke, Burnham and Desborough, form the "Chiltern Hundreds" (_q.v._). The hundred of Aylesbury retains its ancient designation of the "three hundreds of Aylesbury." The municipal boroughs are Buckingham, the county town (pop. 3152), and Wycombe, officially Chepping Wycombe, also Chipping or High Wycombe (15,542). The other urban districts are Aylesbury (9243), Beaconsfield (1570), Chesham (7245), Eton (3301), Fenny Stratford (4799), Linslade, on the Ouzel opposite to Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire (2157), Marlow (4526), Newport Pagnell (4028), Slough (11,453). Among the lesser market towns may be mentioned Amersham (2674), Ivinghoe (808), Olney (2684), Prince's Risborough (2189), Stony Stratford (2353), Wendover (2009) and Winslow (1703). At Wolverton (5323) are the carriage works of the London & North-Western railway. 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. There are three parliamentary divisions, Northern or Buckingham, Mid or Aylesbury, and Southern or Wycombe, each returning one member; and the county contains a small part of the parliamentary borough of Windsor (chiefly in Berkshire). The most notable institution within the county is Eton College, the famous public school founded by Henry VI.

_History._--The district which was to become Buckinghamshire was reached by the West Saxons in 571, as by a series of victories they pushed their way north along the Thames valley. With the grouping of the settlements into kingdoms and the consolidation of Mercia under Offa, Buckinghamshire was included in Mercia until, with the submission of that kingdom to the Northmen, it became part of the Danelaw. In the 10th century Buckinghamshire suffered frequently from the ravages of the Danes, and numerous barrows and earthworks mark the scenes [v.04 p.0675] of struggles against the invaders. These relics are especially abundant in the vale of Aylesbury, probably at this time one of the richest and best protected of the Saxon settlements. The Chiltern district, on the other hand, is said to have been an impassable forest infested by hordes of robbers and wild beasts. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Leofstan, 12th abbot of St Albans, cut down large tracts of wood in this district and granted the manor of Hamstead (Herts) to a valiant knight and two fellow-soldiers on condition that they should check the depredations of the robbers. The same reason led at an early period to the appointment of a steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and this office being continued long after the necessity for it had ceased to exist, gradually became the sinecure it is to-day. The district was not finally disforested until the reign of James I.

At the time of the Norman invasion Buckinghamshire was probably included in the earldom of Leofwine, son of Godwin, and the support which it lent him at the battle of Hastings was punished by sweeping confiscations after the Conquest. The proximity of Buckinghamshire to London caused it to be involved in most of the great national events of the ensuing centuries. During the war between King John and his barons William Mauduit held Hanslape Castle against the king, until in 1216 it was captured and demolished by Falkes de Bréauté. The county was visited severely by the Black Death, and Winslow was one of many districts which were almost entirely depopulated. In the civil war Buckinghamshire was one of the first counties to join in an association for mutual defence on the side of the parliament, which had important garrisons at Aylesbury, Brill and elsewhere. Newport Pagnell was for a short time garrisoned by the royalist troops, and in 1644 the king fixed his headquarters at Buckingham.