Sir Philip Hoby (1505–1558) and his half-brother, Sir Thomas Hoby (1530–1566), were both distinguished diplomatists. The former received the manor of Bisham from Henry VIII, and they are both buried there. Queen Elizabeth was domiciled at Bisham under the charge of the Hobys for a time during the reign of her sister Mary.
Sir John Mason, another diplomatist of the same period, was the son of a cowherd at Abingdon. He is described as a paragon of caution, coldness, and craft, and held high office, diplomatic and political, under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, being in favour with all these sovereigns.
Sir Henry Unton, or Umpton, who died in 1596, was both diplomatist and soldier of the time of Elizabeth. He was born at Wadley Hall, near Faringdon, where the Queen visited him in 1574. The house is still standing. There is a fine alabaster monument to him in Faringdon church.
In 1626 the title of Earl of Berkshire was conferred on the Hon. Thomas Howard, of Charlton, Wilts. He was a son of the Earl of Suffolk, and in 1745 the two titles passed to one man, and are so held at the present day.
William Lenthall (1591–1662), the Speaker of the House of Commons in the Long Parliament, bought Besselsleigh, the house of the ancient family of Besils, and his descendants still own it.
William Penn (1644–1718), the Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, though London-born, lived at Ruscomb, near Twyford, for some time towards the end of his life and died there.
Passing now to authors, Henry Hallam (1777–1859), the historian, was born at Windsor, the son of one of the canons. Catherine Sawbridge (1731–1791), who became in turn Mrs Macaulay and Mrs Graham, was the authoress of a History of England. In her later years she lived at Binfield and is buried in the churchyard there. The antiquary, Thomas Hearne (1678–1735), was the son of the parish clerk at White Waltham, and was born at Littlefield Green.
Jethro Tull (1680–1741), a well-known writer on agriculture, was born at Basildon, and farmed land first near Wallingford, then in Oxfordshire, and finally near Hungerford. About the year 1701 he invented a horse-drill for sowing seed. He is buried at Basildon.
Sir William Blackstone (1723–1780), of the Commentaries, was buried in St Peter’s, Wallingford, at which place he had spent much of the latter part of his life. John Shute, first Viscount Barrington (1678–1734), author of the History of the Apostles, lived at Beckett House, Shrivenham, which was left to him by Sir John Wildman.
Several poets were connected with Berkshire, but chief of them all was Alexander Pope (1688–1744), whose father owned a small property at Binfield. Here the poet lived for much of the early part of his life. His poem Windsor Forest contains many lines dealing with the district around Binfield. Sir William Trumbull (1639–1716), the friend of Pope, and Secretary of State in 1695, lived at Easthampstead, not far from Binfield; and Elijah Fenton (1683–1730), another of Pope’s friends, himself a poet, lived with the Trumbull family during his last years.