Anthony Wingfield (1550?–1615?), one of a number of figures from the same family of his period, was an English scholar and Member of Parliament, known as reader in Greek to Queen Elizabeth I.

Life

Born probably in or soon after 1550, was the third son of Richard Wingfield of Wantisden, Suffolk, by his wife Mary, younger sister of

Bess of Hardwick Elizabeth Cavendish, later Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury ( Hardwick; c. 1527 13 February 1608), known as Bess of Hardwick, of Hardwick Hall, Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, was a notable figure of Elizabethan English society. By a series ...

;

Anthony Wingfield Sir Anthony Wingfield (died 15 August 1552) Order of the Garter, KG, Parliament of England, MP, of Letheringham, Suffolk, was an English soldier, politician, courtier and member of parliament. He was the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk from 1551 t ...

was his grandfather, and John Wingfield his brother. He matriculated as a pensioner of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, in 1569, entered as a student of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1572, and was elected scholar of Trinity in 1573. He graduated B.A. in 1573–4, was elected fellow of his college in 1576, and commenced M.A. in 1577. Possibly through the influence of his uncle Anthony Wingfield (died 1593), usher to Queen Elizabeth, he was appointed reader in Greek to the Queen. On 16 March 1581 he was elected public orator at Cambridge, and in 1582 he accompanied

Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby (12 October 1555 – 25 June 1601) was the son of Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, and Richard Bertie. Bertie was Lady Willoughby de Eresby's second husband, the first bei ...

, on his embassy to Denmark. In October of the same year he was appointed proctor at Cambridge. On 21 March 1589 he was granted leave of absence by his university on going abroad in the Queen's service, and on condition that he supplied a deputy public orator; this post he resigned on 25 September 1589. On 19 January 1593 the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

wrote to the

Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...

asking him to ensure that Wingfield was returned to parliament for one of the towns belonging to the see, and in the following month he was elected for . Around the end of Elizabeth's reign, through family influence, Wingfield was appointed tutor to

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Charles Cavendish, the sons of Sir Charles Cavendish.

Works

Wingfield had Latin letters in ''Epistolæ Academiæ'' (ii. 468 sqq.) and Latin verses in the university collection on

Sir Philip Sidney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

's death. He wrote a well-known epigram on "The Peer Content", intended for

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, (1 June 156324 May 1612), was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during the Union of the Crowns, as Tudor England gave way to Stuart period, Stuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury s ...

. ''Pedantius'', a Latin comedy published in 1631 mocking

Gabriel Harvey Gabriel Harvey (c. 1552/3 – 1631) was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, whose reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe. Henry Morley, writing in the ''Fortnightly Review'' (March 1869), has argued that Harvey's Lati ...

, is now attributed to Edward Forsett. It may have arisen out of the contest for public orator at Cambridge in 1581, when Wingfield defeated Harvey; and it is suggested that Wingfield had a hand in it.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, Anthony Year of death missing English classical scholars Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge English MPs 1593

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

Year of birth uncertain