A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



manor, messuage or farm called Panshanger with ill 

 appurtenances to John Forstcr," at whose death in 

 1558 it passed to his son Humphrey, a minor." He 

 alienated the manor in 1567 to Edward Skeggs,** 

 who conveyed it in 1578 to John Matthew. 19 The 

 latter in 1585 made conveyance of it to certain 

 feoffees/" who granted it in 1587 to James Smyth." 

 He in 1588 conveyed to Humphrey Weld the manor 

 and its appurtenances and five messuages, one dove- 

 cote, five gardens, 300 acres of arable land, 60 acres 

 of meadow, I do acres of pasture, 40 acres of wood 

 and as much of furze and heath and of moor, in 

 Panshanger, Swinhoe, Hertford St. Andrew and 

 Hertingfordbury." Humphrey was probably iden- 

 tical with the alderman of London of that name who 

 was knighted in [603 a and who married Mary the 

 daughter of Sir Stephen Slaney, Lord Mayor of 

 London in I 596." He died as holder of Panshanger 

 in 1610 and had for heir a son John," who was 

 knighted, and who, at his death in 1623, was 

 succeeded by his son Humphrey, a minor. 46 The 

 latter was holder in 1 6+2," but probably alienated 

 the manor in that year or subsequently. A con- 

 veyance of it took place in 1693 from George Hitch- 

 cock and his wife Elizabeth to Sir Gervase Elwes, 

 ban., and Sir John Elwes, kt., with warranty against 

 the heirs of Elizabeth.* 8 This was probably in trust 

 for Sir John," who may be identified with Sir John 

 Elwes, younger brother of the baronet, who was 

 knighted in 1665 and who was of Grove House, 

 Fulham, where he died in 1702. Hi) wife "as 

 Elizabeth daughter and co-heir of Sir Walter Raleigh 

 of West Horsley." In 1 7 1 9 there was a conveyance 

 of Panshanger from John Elwes to Thomas Wood- 

 ford, 11 afterwards executor to the first Earl Cowper, 5 ' 

 which was probably in trust for the earl or his son 

 and heir. 



The Lord Cowper in question was the distin- 

 guished Lord Chancellor who held office from 1707 

 to 1710 and from 1714 to [718, and who since 

 1706 s " or an earlier date had lived, when in the 

 country, in the house which he had built at Cole 

 Green in Hertingfordbury. This was for the remainder 

 of the 1 Sth century the mansion-house of Panshanger. 

 It wa; sometimes the residence, while her husband was 

 in London, of Mary Lady Cowper, second wife of 

 the chancellor, Lady of the Bedchamber to the 

 Princess of Wales, and author of a well-known diary." 

 Campbell states that the chancellor personally took no 

 part in country affairs, yet there are extant certain of 

 his instructions to his gardeners : 'The weeds in the 

 orchard to be mowed. The little kitchen garden in 

 the corner to be cleaned. The gooseberry and currant 

 bushes trimmed. The fig-trees, mulberry -trees and 



such as seem decaying, but not desperate, watered. 

 Stir and clean the borden. Remove trees which are 

 to be removed.'" After hii final retirement from 

 office Lord Cowper spent much time at Cole Green 

 and in this period acquired Panshanger. It leemi 

 that he did not find hit rural leisure an unmixed 

 blessing. 'It is cruelty In you to tantalize a poor 

 countryman with the life of state and pleasure you 

 describe,' he wrote in June 1720 to his wife, then in 

 attendance on the Princess ; ' I could be content ai I 

 am if I did not hear of such fine doings.' ** And in a 

 letter to her in April 1722 he says, 'The country it 



;ly pleasant, but I am sensible while it pleases 

 it dulls me, and in these few days I have contracted a 

 great degree of indolence and an aversion to all cares 

 but the little ones of this place.' " He died at Cole 

 Green in 1 723." His son William, the second earl, 

 was a Lord of the Bedchamber from 1733 to 1747, 

 became lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum for Hert- 

 fordshire in 1744, and was a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society. He died at Cole Green in 1764 s " and was 

 succeeded by his son George Nassau,* who had been 

 member for Hertford from 1759 to 1761. He spent 

 much of his time in Florence, and through the 

 influence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany was created 



