By T. H. Baker. 279 
compounds for £130. He hath already subscribed £20. He held 
correspondence with the King’s party, as appears by his own con- 
fession. 
1646, Thomas Bannister, of Mere, paid £20. He with his son 
Jasper, rents Mere Park, belonging to Lord Arundell, besides 
paying thirds to Lady Arundell. (lalstone Day Book, Wilts 
_ Arch, Maq., xxvi., 352.) 
1650, Hartgild! Baron, of Mere, gentleman, adhered to the forces 
raised against the Parliament, for which his delinquency he humbly 
prays permission to compound ; fine, £1 13s. 4¢. This gentleman’s 
losses in the Royal cause appear to have been amply made up to 
him. As the agent in “hazardous secret service” he actually got 
a promise from Charles II., when at Breda, for a pension of £200 
a year for thirty-one years, which was duly ratified some time after 
the King’s return, about 1662. At the same time he also acquired 
the office of Steward of the Court of Record in Windsor Castle and 
the reversion (after John Hill) af that of ranger and bailiff of 
Battle’s Walk, Windsor. He was the first to announce (so it is 
_ stated in one of his petitions) to the exiled Court at Breda the 
determination of the Parliament of England to declare for a 
restoration (Wilts Arch. Mag., xxiii., 326). 
Frre. 
Shortly after this period Mere seems to have suffered severely 
from a fire, but, strange to say, there is no tradition extant relating 
to it, and as no churchwardens’ accounts exist for some few years 
at this time, no information can be gathered from those valuable 
historical documents, but from entries in other parochial registers 
we find confirmatory evidence of the occurrence. 
In the parish register of Stanton Prior, Co. Somerset, is an entry : 
“For Meere in Wiltshire burnt &e. A brief was published Aug. 13th, 1671. 
Collected 1s. 6d. Wm. Richmond, John Brookman, Churchwardens.” 
In the register of Tudeley cum Capel, Kent :— 
“1671. Mear Wiltshire 1s. 7d.” 
1 His own mode of spelling his Christian name, though only a variety of 
perteill, the name of the victims of the Stourton tragedy. 
