Sir William Coningsby ( – September 1540) was an English

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and a

Justice of the King's Bench Justice of the King's Bench, or Justice of the Queen's Bench during the reign of a female monarch, was a puisne judicial position within the Court of King's Bench, under the Chief Justice. The King's Bench was a court of common law which modern a ...

Biography

William Coningsby was born by 1483, the son of Sir

Humphrey Coningsby Humphrey Coningsby (born ca. 1623) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1641 to 1644. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War. Coningsby was the eldest son of Fitzwilliam Conningsby, of Hampton Court, ...

Aldenham, Hertfordshire Aldenham is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, north-east of Watford and southwest of Radlett. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book and is one of Hertsmere's 14 conservation areas. The village has eight pre-19th-century listed build ...

. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

,and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, becoming a Fellow of that college. He was

Lent Reader A reader in one of the Inns of Court in London was originally a senior barrister of the Inn who was elected to deliver a lecture or series of lectures on a particular legal topic. Two readers (known as Lent and Autumn Readers) would be elected annu ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1519, Treasurer of the same Inn, 1525–6, Reader again in 1526 and one of the Governors of the Inner Temple in 1533–4, and 1538–9. He was one of the Commissioners appointed to hear causes in Chancery in relief of

Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...

, in 1529. Coningsby was Recorder of Lynn from 1524 until his death in September 1540 and appointed a

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

and

in 1540. In 1536 he was elected to represent

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

in Parliament. Coningsby was one of the governors of the Inner Temple in 1533–40, 1536–7, and 1538–9. In 1539-40 he was arraigned in the Starchamber and sent to the Tower for advising

Sir John Shelton Sir John Shelton (1476/7 – 1539) of Shelton in Norfolk, England, was a courtier to King Henry VIII. Through his marriage to Anne Boleyn, a sister and co-heiress of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire of Blickling Hall in Norfolk, he became ...

to make a will upon a secret trust, in contravention of the

Statute of Uses The Statute of Uses (27 Hen 8 c 10 — enacted in 1536) was an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of England that restricted the application of use (law), uses in English property law. The Statute ended the practi ...

(27 Hen. VIII, c. 10). He was released after ten days’ confinement, but lost the offices of prothonotary of the king's bench and attorney of the duels of Lancaster, which he then held. On 5 July of the same year he was appointed to a puisne judgeship in the king's bench, and was knighted; but as his name is not included in the writ of summons to parliament in the next year, it would seem that he died or retired soon after his appointment. Coningsby was also recorder of Lynn in Norfolk, in which county his seat, Eaton Hell, near Wallington, was situate.

Family

Coningsby had married Beatrice, the daughter of Thomas Thoresby of Lynn and the widow of William Trew. They had a son, Christopher (1516– 15 September 1547), and four daughters. His daughter Margaret (c1522–1598) married Sir Robert Alington, the son of Sir Giles Alington, of

Horseheath Horseheath is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, situated a few miles south-east of Cambridge, between Linton, Cambridgeshire, Linton and Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, on the A1307 road. It was known to the Roman Empire, Romans, and it had f ...

, High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire. She married secondly Thomas Pledger in Bottisham in that county. His son Christopher Coningsby had three daughters and coheiresses. Anne married Alexander Balam of Elme in Cambridgeshire, Elizabeth married

Francis Gawdy Sir Francis Gawdy (died 15 December 1605) was an English judge. He was a Justice of the King's Bench, and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. His country seat and estates were in Norfolk. Career Family and name Francis Gawdy was the third son o ...

, Esq. and Amy married Thomas Clarke of Avington in Northamptonshire.

Notes

References

* (Arms given). * ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coningsby, William 1540 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge People educated at Eton College Year of birth unknown Justices of the King's Bench Lawyers from London English MPs 1536 Serjeants-at-law (England) 16th-century English judges 16th-century English lawyers People from Hertsmere (district) Year of birth uncertain