PACKER, JOHN, son of Thomas Packer, Twickenham, Middlesex, Clerk of the Privy Seal, and Margaret Mauntlow; b. 12 Nov 1572; adm.; QS; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1589, adm. scholar 1590; BA 1593/4; Grand Tour (France); Secretary to Sir Henry Nevill, Ambassador in Paris; Envoy to Denmark 1610; Secretary to Earl of Somerset 1612, and subsequently to Sir George Villiers (1st Duke of Buckingham); Prothonotary of the Chancery, jointly with Francis Godolphin 13 Mar 1614; Clerk of Privy Seal 6 Sep 1618 – suspended by 13 Nov 1643 (holding post under reversionary grant dated 11 Jul 1604); a favourite at Court, and “was offered many times to be made Secretary of State, but always refused it” (HMC 10th report, pt. vi, 174); purchased manor of Groombridge, Speldhurst, Kent, and rebuilt Groombridge Chapel in gratitude for the safe return from Spain of Charles, Prince of Wales; MP West Looe 1628-9; a Commissioner for enquiring into abuses of the Fleet Prison 1635; declined to loan money to Charles I 1640, and thenceforth an ally of the parliamentary opposition; a Visitor of the University of Oxford 1 May 1647; a liberal benefactor to religious and charitable causes; a collection of letters and state papers formed by Packer was calendared HMC 2nd Report, 49-63, when in the possession of J. B. Fortescue, and a selection of them was edited for the Camden Society by S. R. Gardiner under the title The Fortescue Papers; a book of Greek and Latin verses composed by Packer when at Cambridge is Lansdowne MS 693 in the British Library; lic. to m. 3 Jul 1613 Philippa, sister of John Mylles (qv); d. 9 Feb 1648/9. DNB.
