In 1658 Robert Reading 1st Baronet (age 18) was awarded Master of Arts: Oxford University by Christ Church College, Oxford University.

Evelyn's Diary. 23 Aug 1678. Upon Sir Robert Reading's (age 38) importunity, I went to visit the Duke of Norfolk (age 50), at his new palace at Weybridge, where he has laid out in building near £10,000, on a copyhold, and in a miserable, barren, sandy place by the street side; never in my life had I seen such expense to so small purpose. The rooms are wainscotted, and some of them richly pargeted with cedar, yew, cypress, etc. There are some good pictures, especially that incomparable painting of Holbein's, where the Duke of Norfolk, Charles Brandon and Henry VIII., are dancing with the three ladies, with most amorous countenances, and sprightly motion exquisitely expressed. It is a thousand pities (as I told my Lord of Arundel (age 23), his son), that that jewel should be given away.

Evelyn's Diary. 10 Jan 1684. I visited Sir Robert Reading (age 44), where after supper we had musiq, but not comparable to that which Mrs. Bridgeman made us on the guittar with such extraordinary skill and dexterity.