Viscount Bolingbroke had a very distinguished career as a minister of the crown, his greatest achievement being the negotiating of the Peace of Utrecht 1713 AD which concluded the war of Spanish Succession. However, in 1717 AD he was convicted of plotting to exclude King George the 1st from the throne on the death of Queen Anne. Bolingbroke was a leading conspirator in the plan to perpetuate the Stuart Royal line in the person of James the old Pretender, the Roman catholic half brother of Queen Anne.
On his conviction, Bolingbroke forfeited all his lands, including Thatcham and Bucklebury, to the crown. The Manor of Bucklebury was restored to the Winchcombe Family in the person of Winchcombe Howard Packer in 1720 AD, and it has remained in possession of his descendants to this day.
