Coningsby, Thomas ___ 1550-1625 ___ British ___ soldier, politician

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Coningsby was born to Humphrey and Anne (maiden name Inglefield), a rich family with extensive lands. Following the death in quick succession of his father and elder brother he inherited, as a boy, extensive estates, which, supplemented by later purchases, comprised several Herefordshire manors as well as lands in Leicestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. This wealth enabled him to play a leading part in regional politics, especially when his fortunes became linked to those of the Earl of Essex. He married Phillipa Fitzwilliam. In 1591, he accompanied Essex to Normandy, on a mission to aid the then Protestant king of France, where he acted as part time muster master to the English attachments. The same year, in 1591, he was knighted by Essex. In 1593, Coningsby was elected to Parliament for the city of Hereford. He also served as sheriff of the county. He was the founder of some almshouses, now Coningsby Hospital. The site was formerly occupied by a house of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, and parts of the hall and chapel date from this period, the 13th century. The almshouses, consisting of twelve cottages, were built with stone from parts of the existing structure as well as from the adjacent Blackfriars Abbey (which had fallen into disrepair following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536). Coningsby's journal of the Siege of Rouen, a key event in French history, is said to have been a source for Shakespeare's Henry IV Part II. (Thanks to Robin J Conisbee Wood who provided additional material for this potted biography. He has spent many years researching the Coningsby family. robin60@talktalk.net)
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1591 ___ military France

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
British Library, Manuscript Collections

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Journal of the Siege of Rouen
 

May 2005, May 2006, August 2008, March 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.