Note 40 — CHARLTON HOUSE, KENT.

Sir Henry Newton, who took the name of Puckering, on succeeding to the estates of his maternal uncle, espoused the royal cause, and was at the battle of Edge-hill. On the Restoration he was appointed Paymaster-general of the Forces. “His good housekeeping and liberality to the poor, who scarcely ever went away unfed from his gates, gained him the general love and esteem of his neighbours, and he was distinguished throughout the kingdom for being a generous benefactor to the poor cavaliers whose services were not rewarded by King Charles the Second.” Jane, the only daughter of Sir Henry, was attacked in Greenwich Park, on the 26th of September, 1649, by a party of men, who conveyed her to Erith, and put her on board a vessel there, the object being to compel her to marry a man named Joseph Welsh, by whom she was kept confined in a nunnery in Flanders, until she was induced, “through fear and despairing of ever being restored to her friends,” to marry him. On procuring her liberty, however, she instituted criminal proceedings against Welsh and his accomplices, and the marriage was declared void. They were indicted at Maidstone in 1651, and their guilt was proved, but it does not appear that they were in custody. She afterwards married Sir John Bale, of Carleton-Curlieu.