Thomas Poynings, 1st Baron Poynings (c.1512 – 17 August 1545) was an English soldier and courtier.

Family

Thomas Poynings was one of seven illegitimate children of Sir Edward Poynings of

Westenhanger Stanford is a village and civil parish in Kent, England. It is part of the Folkestone and Hythe district. It has been divided by the M20 into Stanford North and Stanford South. The Stanford Windmill is to the north of the M20 and west of the a ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. His mother may have been his father's mistress, Rose Whethill, daughter of Adrian Whethill (1415-1503/4) of

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

and Margaret Worsley (d. 13 December 1505). Rose Whethill was left an annuity of 40 marks in Sir Edward's will of 1521.Rose Whetehill (1472-1521+), A Who’s Who of Tudor Women: W-Wh, compiled by Kathy Lynn Emerson to update and correct ''Wives and Daughters: The Women of Sixteenth-Century England'' (1984)
. He had two brothers, Edward Poynings (d.1546) and Sir Adrian Poynings, and four sisters, including Jane (or Joan) Poynings, who married firstly Thomas Clinton, 8th Baron Clinton (d.1517), by whom she was the mother of

Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln Edward Fiennes, or Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln KG (151216 January 1584/85) was an English landowner, peer, and Lord High Admiral. He rendered valuable service to four of the Tudor monarchs. Family Edward Clinton, or Fiennes, was born a ...

(d.1585),

Lord Admiral of England The Lord High Admiral (of England beginning in the 14th century, later of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom) is the ceremonial head of the Royal Navy. Most have been courtiers or members of British royal family, and not professional na ...

, and secondly, as his second wife,

Sir Robert Wingfield ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, 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 i ...

(d.1539), by whom she had no issue.

Career

Poynings' wife, Katherine, inherited land in the west country and Poynings began to acquire additional land in Wiltshire, Cornwall and Somerset, as well as exchanging Westenhanger for a grant of monastic land in Dorset (including

Bindon Abbey Bindon Abbey (''Bindonium'') was a Cistercian monastery, of which only ruins remain, on the River Frome about half a mile east of Wool in the Purbeck District, Dorset, England. History The monastery was founded in 1149 by William de Glastoni ...

). In the 1540s, he served King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Marshal of Calais The town of Calais, now part of France, was in English hands from 1347 to 1558, and this page lists the commanders of Calais, holding office from the English Crown, called at different times Captain of Calais, King's Lieutenant of Calais (Castl ...

and keeper of the castle at

Guînes Guînes (; vls, Giezene, lang; pcd, Guinne) is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. Historically it was spelt ''Guisnes''. On 7 January 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a French pioneer in hydrogen-balloon flight, complete ...

, then took an active role in the invasion of France in 1544, in particular at Montreuil and the sieges of Boulogne. On 30 January 1545, Poynings was raised to the peerage as Baron Poynings and appointed Lieutenant of Boulogne. He died of dysentery at

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

on 17 August 1545.

Marriage and issue

He married Katherine Marney, widow of George Radcliffe, a younger son of

Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex Robert Radcliffe, 10th Baron Fitzwalter, 1st Earl of Sussex, KG, KB, PC (c. 148327 November 1542), also spelt Radclyffe, Ratcliffe, Ratcliff, etc., was a prominent courtier and soldier during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII who serve ...

, and elder daughter and co-heir of

John Marney, 2nd Baron Marney John Marney, 2nd Baron Marney (by 1485 – 27 April 1525) of Layer Marney, Essex was an English Member of Parliament and Governor of Rochester Castle. He was the son of Henry Marney, 1st Baron Marney of Layer Marney and educated in the law at L ...

, by whom he had an only son, baptized in March 1539, who died an infant.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poynings, Thomas, 1st Baron Poynings 1510s births 1545 deaths Barons in the Peerage of England Peers of England created by Henry VIII 16th-century English nobility Deaths from dysentery