Ralph Packe may be descended from one of the local men who helped collect the poll tax in 1377: either Nicholas Pacli from Barming, or Radulphus Pak from the neighbouring parish of Teston.
Ralph is the first of the Barming family known to have left a will, (probated in 1465)
He is most likely related to: the Lawrence Pakke who followed Jack Cade off to London in 1450. Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, held Barming when the rebellion broke out. Only two Barming men are known to have joined the rebels: Lawrence Pakke and Robert Rows. Two of Buckingham's kinsmen, Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother, led 400 men men and archers against them on a wooded ridge south of Seven Oaks. The were met by a volley of arrows, after which the rebels charged. Both Staffords and two or three dozen of their followers were killed and the rest of the royalists fled. When news of the disaster reached the Royal army at Blackheath, it disintegrated. William Gregory describes a great fight taking place at London's drawbridge on July 1st, after which Jack Cade ruled over the great city for three nights. A company of veterans from the war with France, backed by canon, attacked Cade's men on London bridge on the night of July 5. The fight raged through the night, with no clear victor. After receiving a promise that the reforms they asked for would be carried out, and a pardon, the rebels dispersed. After they were gone, King Henry VI proclaimed the promise void. Cade was hunted down and killed.
Ralph may be the father of: