Richard Buckner is one of the earliest known Buckners in Berkshire, and apparently the ancestor of many if not most of the later ones. Because this family held the farm at Whitley for several generations, the history of the family can be constructed fairly confidently over that period. All three of Richard's sons, Thomas (prob. 1587, BRO Wills H.120), William, and John may have left wills. While I have an abstract and a transcription of Thomas' will from independent sources, the transcriptions of William and John's wills that I've seen are of uncertain provenance. They are quoted in W. A. Crozier et al. the Buckners of Virginia. William's is cited as "William Buckner of Cumnor Co Berks yeoman Dated 12 May 1558 Prob 24 May 1558 E 19 PPC". I have no idea what repository "PPC" might be, but this will certainly doesn't exist in the PCC wills. We do however know that there is a will in the Berkshire Record Office for William Buckner of Cumnor probated in 1558 (BRO D. 188). The Cumnor Parish website kindly abstracted this will, and it in no way agrees with the will supposedly quoted in Crozier. At first, I thought this was just a funny coincidence that two William Buckners died in Cumnor in the same year.
An even funnier coincidence occurs with John's will, which Crozier bizarrely cites as "dated Nov 26 [1599] Proved Dec 30 Book (J.P.C.C.)" As luck would have it, the BRO has the will of John Buckner of Chawley (BRO J. 495), probated in - you guessed it - 1599. Yet again, the Cumnor Parish website comes through and provides an abstract of this will, and yet again it in no way resembles Crozier's quoted will. For a long time, I was willing to accept that coincidences happen, but my recent discovery that some of Crozier's quoted parish records are most likely forged has convinced me that both of Crozier's quoted wills are similarly nothing but forgeries. In short, almost every word in Crozier about the Buckners in England is an intentional fraud, probably another one in a long list of them perpetrated by the widely-execrated Gustave Anjou, who is thought to have contributed to the book. Clearly, the intent here was to fake up the wills based on index entries of existing wills but to muddle the references in such a way that they couldn't be found.
Because of the pervasive and pernicious influence of the phony facts in Crozier and the influence of another subsequent and even more egregiously fictitious genealogy which I'm not even going to name, the families of William and John, assuming they had any, are a wide-open mystery. The existing wills could have belonged Richard's sons, but it's uncertain if they are, based on the imperfect texts I have access to. In hindsight, the best indication that Crozier's versions are forged is probably the fact that they are so definitively identifiable. However, since the Whitley freehold went to Thomas and subsequently to his son Thomas, his line has been fairly easy to follow, especially since Thomas Sr.'s widow, Dorothy (Anne) Buckner, also left a fabulously detailed will, prob. 1597 (BRO J.292).
I've tried to preserve the line arrangement so anyone who wants can compare this to the original image. This is in the PRO Catalogue under "Rychard Burken of Berkshire", PROB 11/32 - it's not particularly easy to read. It's folio 27 in the Populwell register if you prefer the old reference system. The copy I used has been circulating among Buckner researchers for years, though I have actually seen the original with my own eyes in Kew.
I don't claim perfection, and there are some things that can be interpreted different ways. The notation {ER} and such indicates a superscript abbreviation. These are common in period documents, though sometimes they can be a little idiosyncratic.
Date of will: 4 Sep 1548
Probate: 1 Mar 1548/9
People named in the will:
in the name of god amen The iiijth daie of September in the yeare of o{R} Lorde
god a Thousande fyve hundreth fourtie and eight And in the seconde yeare of the Regne
of Edward the Sixte by the grace of god of England ffrance and Ireland King defender
of the faith and in the earth of the church of England and Ireland supreme hedd -I-
Rychard Bucken{ER} of the p{ER}ishe of cumn{OR} in the countie of Berk. sycke yn Boddy but
sound in mynde makyng testament and last will in fourum and manner following/ ffirst
I betake my soule to god, my body to the erthe And I bequeth to Thomas my eldest sonne
Sixe oxen of my plough Sixe kyne and he to keepe the oldeman Thomas and
Elizabeth his syster/ And I bequeth to the saide Thomas my sonn my carte with the
tynne[?] plough and plough gerr/ Item I bequeth to Thomas and John my sonnes the
estate of Raccote for my years answering the lorde his rent/ Item I will that John, my
sonn do occupie the third p{AR}te of Whitley in the parish of Cumnor as I do nowe of hit
for two years yielding the third parte of the rent and Charges therto belonging Item I
bequeth all my sh[ep?]e to my four Children John William Mary and Agnes/Item I will
my household stuf to be devyded to my children that ys to meane Thomas John Will~m Mary
and Agnes/ Item I bequeth xvij kyne and vij weanlings to bedvyded among my abovenamed
children and also my wole to the same my children/Item I bequeth all my Corne to Thomas
my sonne for the mayntenance of my house Item I bequeth to M{R} Bery my greate bay horse
Item to Johan my doughter my great mare/Item I bequeth Johans two doughters a [cloltes?]
apiece at the discretion of my Executors Item I bequeth to eche of my godchildren iiijd/Item I
bequeth to my doughter Marye her mothers Apparell she to consider her sister[e?]
Elizabeth/ Item I bequeth to my sonne William my house of Lechlade/Item I bequeth
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to eche of my servants xxd I give from of my goods unbequethed my debits paid by equall po{R}tyons
to my Childern Thomas John William Mary and Agnes and my buriall to be discharged of
the hole stok the whiche childern I ordeyn and make myne Executors of this my last will
And I make Overseers of the same M{R} Lawrence Berry M{R} Richard Ruffyn and William
Secole?/they to have ev{R}y of them for their pains foure nobles witnes of this my last will
Thomas Wood Robert Long and William Buckn wits other
Probatum fuit hoc? testamentum coram d? curia archepo. apud londin. primo die
Martij Anno dm millesimo quinquecentesimo xlviijo [1 Mar 1548/9] testamento Thome Bukener
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