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- 2nd son
1586 Appointed by Queen Elizabeth as baliff of the Manor of Marden, anoffice which he continued to hold until 1602, when TomasvWooton suceededhim. (Robinsons Manors of Hererfordshire)
Soldier - knighted by the Earl of Essex 8 Oct, 1591,
Served in Normandy 1591, knighted in 1591
Coningsby visited Italy with Sir Philip Sidney in 1573, and he wasintimate with Sidney until Sir Phillips death, although their friendshipwas severly strained on their Italian Journey by an unfounded charge ofrobbery brought by Sidney against Coningsby.
Coningsby went to Normandy in attendance on the Earle of Essex in 1591,and took part in the seige of Rouen, fighting against the forces of theLeague. He acted as muster-master to the English detachment, was infrequent intercourse with Henri of Navarre before Rouen, and was knightedby Essex on 8 Oct 1591. (Harlian. MS 6063, art 26)
Coningsby was MP for Hereford in 1593 and 1601 and sheriff of the countyin 1598.
The following is taken from Members of Parliament'
"CONINGSBY.
Sir Thomas 1550 - 1625 of Hampton Court Herefordshire and the BlackFriars, Hereford.
Herefordshire 1593, 1597 , 1601
9 Oct. 1550. yr. S. of Humphrey. Coningsby 1 of Hampton Court by Anne.da. of Sir Thomas. Englefield of Englfield, Berks, m. Phillipa da. of SirWilliam Fitzwilliam 2nd of Milton nr. Peterborough, Northants.
6 sons, 5 daughters, suc. Brother Edward 1516 Kntd. 1591.
J.P. Herefordshire by 1580, sheriff 1582 - 3, 1598 -9. Dep.Lt. by 1590,commander, musters, recorder, Leominster bef 1584. Dep steward 1591,steward c. Mar 1601; steward of Marden, Herefordshire by 1588, of Ewyas.Herefords 1597; (jt with Herbert Croft) steward of crown lands, Herefords1604; gent pens 1591/3 -1603; member, council in the marches of Wales1617. 3
Hon adm G Inn Feb 1584; hon.MA Oxf 27 Sept 1592.
Coningsby was one of the major landowners in the Welsh. border countrythroughout most of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Following thedeath in quick succession of his father and elder brother he inheritedas a boy, extensive estates, which, supplemented by later purchases,comprised the Herefordshire manors of Hampton Court, Bodenham, andPencome, the site of the Black Friars at Hereford, lands at Orleton andelsewhere in Leicestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire
This landed wealth enabled him to play a leading part in border politics,especially when his fortunes became linked to those of the Earl of Essex,and it was obviously just a matter of time before he came up against theother leading border families, the Crofts, and especially against SirJames Croft, comptroller of the Queens household, who had been for 20years the dominant figure in Herefordshire politics.
Is was only when he had reached the age or about 30 that Coningsby beganto challenge Croft's supremacy. Earlier he had been visiting ltaly withPhilip Sidney'. The long standing friendship between the Coningsby's andthe was severely strained on their journey when Sidney charged hiscompanion with robbery, but it was resumed and strengthened byConingsby's marriage to one of Sidneys cousins.. The first evidence ofConingsby's awakening interest in Herefordshire affairs occurs in 1577when he complained to Walsingham about the appointment of William Rudhallas sheriff. Next he acquired the recordership of Leominster, despiteCroft's nomination of his step-son Thomas Wigmore. One of Wigmoresservants then caused an affray with a Coningsby follower in the town.which in turn set off outbreaks of violence lasting intermittently forseveral years, during the course of which at least one man was killed.Coniningsby. Who was prosecuted in the Star Chamber by the attorneygeneral, no doubt at Crofts request, maintained that his servants weremerely defending themselves. Twice he wrote to Wigmore in neighbourly andfriendly sort, or so he claimed, asking for an end to the violence. buteach time the reply came back 'very sharply and in abusive language. Whatseems to have angered Coningsby above all was being called an Italianateknave in Leominster market place. Clashes took place in other towns inthe country - in Kington and in Hereford itself - and even in London.According to Wigmore. 'sixty or more of Coningsby's men attacked five orsix of his at Hereford and Coningsby himself threatened Judge RogerManwood, who was conducting the assizes, with a pistol.
In 1590 the balance shifted in Coningsby's favour with the death of SirJames Croft and Coningsby's own attachment to the Earl of Essex, she newsteward of Leominster, whose deputy Coningsby now became. He accompaniedEssex to Normandy in 1591,where he acted as part time muster master tothe English attachments, and he wrote an account of the siege of Roenwhere he was knighted by Essex. Referring to the expedition in his will,he mentioned that 'Essex promised me a treasurership, but was not able toperform with me.' He describes several meetings with the King of France;returning from one he was involved in the fighting near Rouen when hecould 'sensibly feel the wind of the bullets in my face'. Coningsby'shard won prominence in Herefordshire in his election as senior knight ofthe shire for Elizabeth's last three Parliaments.
In 1593 he served on two committees concerned with the subsidy (28 Feb.,1 March ) and on three others disabled soldiers (30 Mar.), to takefresh water to Stonehouse town (26 March) and cloth (15 March). In 1597-8he spoke at least twice on matters affecting the border counties. Heopposed (12 Dec.) guiding a new bridge over the Wye at Ross on threegrounds: the poverty of the country, the existing heavy taxation and therepeated damage done to the existing bridge. He disagreed (17 Dec.) withthe proposal that Shropshire should be brought within the statute toencourage the growth of corn, hoping that 'as Herefordshire and the othercounties adjoining were the barns few the corn, so this shire might andwould be the dairy house to the whole realm'.
He was named to committees concerned with armour and weapons (8 Nov.),defence (12. 16 Jan 1598). excess apparel (19 Jan.), and mariners andsoldiers (.6 Jan.). and as knight of the shire was eligible to attendcommittees concerning enclosures (5 Nov.), poor law (5. 2, Nov.), penallaws (8 Nov.), monopolies (10 Nov.) and the subsidy(15 Nov.),. The countyelection of 1601 was hotly contested. but Coningsby still wrote to Cecilthat he had been chosen against his will, being altogether unable tomount a horse'.
A Contemporary wrote about this contest:
"It is thought that there will be at least 10,000 men at Hereford at theelection, and this I can assure you Of, they shall be sworn and told bypoll to the last man, 'which imagine you what time it will require."
Coningsby was named to a committee on11 Nov. 1601, concerning theshortening of the Michaelmas law term;. As knight for Herefordshire hewas eligible to attend two Committees: the order of business (3 Nov.) andmonopolies (23 Nov.),
Coningsby's office at Leominster gave him some Parliamentary patronagethere, and he twice returned relatives. On the fall of Essex ("that Lordof most honour') he succeeded him as steward, in the face of Cecil'srecommendation of Herbert Croft, with whom Coningsby's rivalry now becamealmost as desparate as it had been with Croft's grandfather. His delightin forcing Croft to share his job as steward of crown lands inHerefordshire is apparent in a letter he wrote to Robert Sidney:
'Had your lordship been but present to have observed the alteration ofhis countenance I think you would have judged with me that it was a thingvery displeasing onto him to be offered a colleague in place wherein achief part of his greatness and unjust profit hath long accrued.'
Coningsby who is thought to have been the prototype of Sir Puntarvolo inBen Jonson's Everyman in His Humour. Became more difficult as he grewolder. Hardly a year passed when he was not involved in legalproceedings. He quarrelled incessantly with his only surviving son anddemanded impossible terms row the hand or his daughter Anne, thenegotiation for whose marriage to Sir Ruben Harley continuedintermittently throughout 1603 and 1604. By early 1605 Harley's patiencewas exhausted. In a final letter, he expressed the hope that Coningsbywould 'deal with others better than you have done with me, or else youwill hardly get a good husband for your daughter'.
Coningsby remained active throughout much of James's reign, beingappointed a member of the council in the Marches of Wales in 1617. Hisname had been suggested as early as 1591 and again in 1604. but he mustthen have been considered unsuitable. Following his work in Parliamentfor disabled soldiers, he founded a hospital for them in Hereford in1614. and when he made his will on 10 Aug. 1616 he increased hisprovision for the Hospital. The will, to which several codicils wereadded. is a lengthy document. He recorded that he was old in years, 'accidentally lame of legs, but far from dotage' for which he gave 'gloryto god on high'. He provided four of his daughters but not for Anne, whowas 'not to be disappointed' The sums involved - £3,000 to one daughter,£2,000 to another - testify to his wealth. His son Fitzwilliam's debtscaused him concern but after frequently changing his mind, he appointedlhim sole executor in a final codicil dated 2 July 1623. He left himlands 'worth £500 a year. 'all procured by myself' , 'my plate worth£1,000 - and I began with six dishes when I went into Normandy'.'valuable' household goods, and much else besides, urging him to spend nomore than £1,000 a year. The final codicil also provided for his son'schildren by his marriage to Cecily daughter of Lord Bergavenny's heir.Coningsby died at Hampton Court on 10 May 1613, aged 74. and was buriedat Hope Church next to his wife. "
"23 August 1588
St James'
A letter to the Lord Cheife Baron that their Lordships send unto hisLordship th'informacion of the discredit and misbehaviour committed by MrCunisbie at the last Assises at Hereford, and because his Lordship andcertain of his servantes are said to have been present at some of thesaid misbehaviours, and his said servantes at the murder committed on theperson of Walter Lewes, a servant of Thomas Wigmore, his Lordship isdesired to send hither his knowlege and reporte of so muche as hisLordship uppon examination taken did find to be verified, and to sendhither his servantes named Thomas Wooddward, Collard Rumney and ThomasPennell, that their examinacions maie be heere taken for the bolting outof the truth.
A letter to Thomas Connisbie esquire, to make his undelaied appearancebefore their Lordships.
A letter to Thomas Wigmore esquire, that uppon his complaint Mr Conisbieis sent for, and therfore he is required to repaire hither assone as hecan to verifie thaccusacion and information by him delivered."
Source: Public Record Office
Title: Privy Council Register. Elizabeth vii p.265-266
On 12 Nov 1617 he joined the Council for Wales under the presidency ofWilliam, Lord Compton.
In 1614 Coningsby founded a hospital in the Suberbs of Hereford forsuperanuated soldiers and servants called ' Coningsby's Company of OldServitors' and died on 30 May 1625.
John Davies of Hereford addressed a sonnet to him.
A portrait of him with his favorite dog is at Cashiobury House,Hertfordshire, in the possesion of the Earle of Essex.
He married Phillipa, second daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam ofMelton, near Peterborough, and Sir Phillip Sidney's cousin, by whom hehas six sons and three daughters. All his sons except one, Fitzwilliam,died before him
He was the author of an interesting diary of action of the English troopsin France in 1591. It proceeds day by day through two periods, 13th augto 6th Sept and 3rd Oct to 24 Dec, when it abruptly terminates. Theoriginal manuscript is numbered 288 (ff 253-79) among the Harleian MSS ofthe British Museum. It was first printed and carefully edited by MrJ.G.Nichols in the first volume of the Camden Societies 'Micellanies'(1847)
MANOR HOUSES OF HEREFORDSHIRE.
Page 146/147
Lucy, daughter of Richard, Lord Grey of Codnor, he had, (with otherchildren) a daughter, Elizabeth, who became, eventually, his co-heir, andbrought Hampton Court to her husband, Thomas Cornewall, Baron of Burford,whose grandson sold it, circa 1510, to Sir Humphry Coningsby, Justice ofthe King's Bench, the progenitor of an illustrious family. Sir ThomasConingsby held high command under the Earl of Essex (by whom he wasknighted) in the army sent to aid Henry IV. of France, in his resistanceto the league in 1591. He was present at the Siege of Rouen and left inMS. an account of the campaign which was printed in 1847. No doubt he wasa gallant soldier, but that he was also "as great a humourist as any ofhis age" we feel very certain. Extremely quaint are many of the ruleswhich he drew up for the management of the Hospital in Hereford, foundedby him "in thankfulness to God for his defence and protection as well intravels by sea and land, as also against malice and practice at home."And there is good reason to believe that he supplied Ben Jonson with themodel for the fantastic knight, Puntarvolo, in the play of "Every Man outof his Humour."
( § There is a good story told of Sir Thomas by Auditor Harley (MS. penisLady F. V. Harcourt). Fhe players took the trouble to procure fromHampton Court a suit of the knight's clothes and when Puntarvolo made hisappearance, Sir Thomas, who was among the audience, began to doubt hisown identity and cried out distractedly, "Am I Sir Thomas Coningsby or isthat Sir Thomas Coningsby." The portrait of Sir Thomas with his favouritedwarf, Cricket, is in the possession of Lord Essex, who exhibited it atSouth Kensington in 1866. Lord Essex also has the handkerchief with whichLord Coningsby stanched the wound which, but for his intervention, mighthave proved fatal to King William.)
His son, Fitzwilliam, bravely defended Hereford for Charles I., andsuffered such losses in his estate that his wife a Neville was reducedalmost to absolute want. But the fortunes of the family revived in theperson of Thomas Coningsby, who was successful as a politician and asoldier. In the former capacity he was a consistent supporter of theWhigs, and in the latter he was instrumental in saving the life ofWilliam III. on theday before the battle of the Boyne. The King made hima Lord Justice and associated him with Lord Sydney and Sir C. Porter inthe government of Ireland, where his arbitrary conduct procured for himthe titles of "Nero, tyrant, petty king," and his extortionate practicesmade him especially detested. Yet, to his skill the nation owed theTreaty of Limerick, and the debt was paid by his elevation to the peeragein 1692. In the same year he purchased the Crown Manor of Leominster-adearly-bought bargain which embittered his life. Believing that thispurchase conferred upon him royal rights throughout the entire lordship,he clung with characteristic obstinacy to the idea until it became apositive monomania, involving him in perpetual lawsuits, and at lastprocuring him a brief sojourn in the Tower.
Lord Coningsby's otherwise noble character was marred by an utter want ofself-control. In his passages of arms with Lord Oxford and BishopAtterbury in the House of Lords, he was thoroughly discomfited, and theviolent language which he used in connection with his law-suit, toLord-Chancellor Harcourt, was perfectly unjustifiable. To the antiquary,the monomania to which we have referred has been of service, for itinduced Lord Coningsby to employ Anstis, the Herald, to collect avoluminods mass of valuable records, which have been printed in the "Case of the Manor of Marden," a rare book, abounding in libelousstatements.
Lord Coningsby died in I 729, leaving two daughters,
The elder, Margaret, Countess of Coningsby, married Sir Michael Newton ofBarr's Court, co. Glouc., Bart., created K.B in 1725. Their onlyoffspring, John, Viscount Coningsby, d. inf., the victim of an accidentalfall, said to have been caused by an ape that frightened its nurse.
the younger of whom eventually inherited Hampton Court, and by herhusband, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the witty politician, left adaughter and co-heir who married XVilliam Ann, Earl of Essex. His sonsold the estate, in i8o8, to Richard Arkwright of Willersley Castle,grandfather of the present proprietor.
The Court has undergone great alterations at different times,
From some letters, penes Rev. T. W. Webb, it is evident that about theyear1615, much was done to prepare Hampton Court for the reception ofFitzwilliam Coningsby. On the 26 May, i6x8, the bailiff (MichaelConingsby) writes" We are nowe very busie in digginge stone for thegardinge wall and the cellar and allso for the Butteres for theCathouse." Sir Thomas Coningsby chiefly lived at the Bower, in Rock, co.Worc. As Hampton Court was occupied by some of the Parliamentary troopsin 1652, it is very probable that, through their violence, as well asthrough the impoverished condition of the owner, the buildings fell intodecay; Mr. Webb's forth-coming work will, doubtless, throw much light onthe history of Hampton Court at this period.
The Court has undergone great alterations at different times, but chieflyby Lord Coningsby, who employed Colin Campbell (see VilruvbesBritannicus) to modernize the building. The changes effected at laterdates have been in better taste, and as a whole Hampton Court isundoubtedly the first of the Mansions of Herefordshire in beauty andinterest.: (Manors and mansion Houses)
Lord Essex has removed to Cassiobury the portrait of Henry IV., which issaid to have been given by that monarch to 3k R. Lenthull; and hislordship has also in his possession many of the Coningsby portraits. Ofthe latter, however, there is still an interesting collection at HamptonCourt (See Gent's A£fag., 1825.) The view of Hampton Court in its earlierstate, is taken from an oil painting, made apparently for Lord Coningsby.Of modern pictures, there are some good portraits of the Arkwrightfamily, by Wright of Derby.
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1550 - 1625 (74 years)
