Henry Hammond was a leading theologian and the royal chaplain at the time of King Charles I, who described him as the most natural orator he ever heard. 

He visited Charles when he was imprisoned during the English Civil Wars and was distraught when the King was beheaded in 1649. His movements were restricted but when Lady Dorothy Pakington, a prominent Anglican, fell ill the following year he was able to pay her a ”short visit” at Westwood House in Droitwich. 

Westwood, however, became his sanctuary and he remained there for the last ten years of his life. He wrote prodigiously there, preparing for the recovery of the Anglican church. Among the wealth of materials to come out of Westwood was the key religious work The Whole Duty of Man, published anonymously in 1658, with an introduction by Hammond.

The work was a bestseller for 100 years and remained influential for another century. Benjamin Franklin, a signatory to the American Declaration of Independence, was a fan. Writing to his wife regarding his daughter Sally, he said: ”I hope she continues going to church and would have read over and over again The Whole Duty of Man.”

Some believed the actual author was Lady Dorothy, wife of prominent royalist Sir John Pakington (see separate entry). An inscription on a monument to her grandson in Hampton Lovett Church claims Lady Dorothy to be ”justly reputed the authoress of The Whole Duty of Man”.

Hammond’s death was described as ”an unspeakable loss to the Church”. In a cruel twist of fate, he was buried on the day parliament voted to restore the monarchy.