Thomas Pestel

PESTEL (Pestell), Thomas. b. Leicester, 1586 (baptized 9 October); d. Leicester, 1667 (buried 2 July). He was the son of a tailor who must have been prosperous and well connected, because Pestel’s career was determined by patronage. He was an undergraduate at Queens’ College, Cambridge; after ordination he was presented to the living of Coleorton, Leicestershire by Sir Thomas Beaumont (1611). He became vicar of the next village, Packington, in 1622, holding both appointments until he relinquished them in 1644 to his sons William (Coleorton) and Thomas (Packington). He remained curate of Packington, and had connections with the court of Charles I: in one book (1660, see below) he described...