- Thomas Coningsby
Sir Thomas Coningsby, (d. 1625), was an English soldier and
Member of Parliament , notable for his diary of military action inFrance in 1591.Birth
Thomas Coningsby was the son and heir of Humphrey Coningsby, of
Hampton Court, Herefordshire , by Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Inglefield, judge of the common pleas. His father was gentleman-treasurer to Queen Elizabeth.cite web | last = Lee| first =Sidney | title =Coningsby, Sir Thomas (d 1625), soldier| work =Dictionary of National Biography Vol. XII | publisher =Smith, Elder & Co. | date = 1887 | url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/olddnb.jsp?articleid=6075 | format = HTML | accessdate = 2008-02-27]Early life and military srvice
Coningsby visited Italy with Sir Philip Sidney in 1573, and he was intimate with Sidney until Sir Philip's death, although their friendship was severely strained on their Italian journey by an unfounded charge of robbery brought by Sidney against Coningsby. Coningsby went to Normandy in attendance on the Earl of Essex in 1591, and took part in the siege of Rouen, fighting against the forces of the league. He acted as muster-master to the English detachment, was in frequent intercourse with Henry of Navarre before Rouen, and was knighted by Essex on 8 October 1591. Coningsby was
Member of Parliament for Hereford in 1593 and 1601, and sheriff of the county in 1598.Later life
On 12 Nov. 1617 he joined the council of Wales under the presidency of William, Lord Compton. In 1614 Coningsby founded a hospital in the suburbs of
Hereford for superannuated soldiers and servants called 'Coningsby's Company of Old Servitors', and died on 30 May 1625.He married Philippa, second daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam of Melton, near
Peterborough , and Sir Philip Sidney's cousin, by whom he had six sons and three daughters. All his sons except one, Fitzwilliam, died before him. Fitzwilliam married Cicely, daughter of Henry, seventh Lord Abergavenny, and their son, Humphrey, was father of Thomas, 1st Earl Coningsby. Of his daughters, Katharine married Francis Smallman of Kinnersley Castle,Herefordshire ; Elizabeth married Sir Humphrey Baskerville ofEardisley Castle , Herefordshire, and Anne married Sir Richard Tracy ofHatfield , Hertfordshire.Diary
Coningsby is the author of an interesting diary of the action of the English troops in France in 1591. It proceeds day by day through two periods, 13 August to 6 September, and 3 October to 24 December, when it abruptly terminates. The original manuscript is among the Harleian Manuscripts at the
British Library . It was first printed and carefully edited by Mr. J. G. Nichols in the first volume of the Camden Society's "Miscellanies" ( 1847 ). Internal evidence alone gives the clue to the authorship.References
Notes
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