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 Sir Edward Poynings KG (1459 – 22 October 1521) was an English soldier, administrator and diplomat, and Lord Deputy of Ireland under King Henry VII of England. Early life Edward Poynings was the only son of Sir Robert Poynings (c.1419–14 ...

Westenhanger Stanford is a village and civil parish in Kent, England. It is part of the Folkestone and Hythe district. The village developed along the ancient Roman Stone Street and was divided by the construction of the M20 motorway into Stanford North ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

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

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

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 ...

(d.1585),

Lord Admiral of England Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are e ...

, 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 "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in Fren ...

(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 Dorset, England. History The monastery was founded in 1149 by William de Glastonia on the site since kn ...

). 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 known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

as Marshal of Calais and keeper of the castle at

Guînes Guînes (; ; ) 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, completed the first aerial crossi ...

, then took an active role in the invasion of France in 1544, in particular at

Montreuil Montreuil is a French place name derived from Medieval Latin , "Little Monastery". It most often refers to Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis (aka Montreuil-sous-Bois), a French commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Seine-St-Denis department. It ma ...

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 (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

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

201 Year 201 ( CCI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fabianus and Arrius (or, less frequently, year 954 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 201 for this yea ...

Peers of England created by Henry VIII

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

16th-century English nobility Deaths from dysentery