istopher Hatton died in 1591, and settled his estate on Sir
William Newport, whose daughter became the second wife of Sir Edward
Coke, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, who purchased
the estate of Stoke. After the dissolution of the Parliament by King
Charles the First, in March, 1628-9, Sir Edward Coke being then
greatly advanced in years, retired to his house at Stoke, where he
spent the remainder of his days in a quiet retirement, universally
respected and esteemed; and there, says his epitaph, crowned his pious
life with a pious and Christian departure, on Wednesday the 3d day of
September, A. D., 1634, and of his age 83; his last words, "THY
KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE!"

Upon the death of Sir Edward Coke, the manor and estate of Stoke
devolved to his son-in-law, Viscount Purbeck, elder brother of
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who perished by the hand of the
assassin, Felton.

Lord Purbeck, upon the death of his wife, daughter of Sir Edward Coke,
married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Slingsby, by whom he had a
son, Robert, which Robert, marrying the daughter and heir of Sir John
Danvers, one of the judges who sat on the trial of King Charles the
First, obtained a patent from Cromwell, Protector of the Commonwealth,
to change his name to Danvers, alledging as the reasons for his so
doing "the many disservices done to the commonwealth by the name of
the family of Villiers."

In 1657, Viscount Purbeck granted a lease of the manor and house of
Stoke, to Sir Robert Gayer during his own life; and in the same year,
his son, Robert Villiers, or Danvers, sold his reversionary interest
in the estate to Sir R. Gayer for the sum of eight thousand five
hundred and sixty-four pounds. The family of Gayers continued in
possession until 1724, when the estate was sold for twelve thousand
pounds to Edmund Halsey, Esq., M.P., who died in 1729, his daughter
Anne married Sir Richard Temple, created Viscount Cobham, who survived
him; and she resided at Stoke until her death in the year 1760.

The house and manor of Stoke were sold in the same year, by the
representatives of Edmund Halsey, to the Honorable Thomas Penn, Lord
Proprietary of the Province of Pennsylvania, the eldest surviving son
of the Honorable William Penn, the celebrated founder and original
proprietary of the province.

Upon the death of Thomas Penn, in 1775, the manor of Stoke, together
with all his other estates, devolved upon his eldest su