Thomas Coningsby

Sir Thomas Coningsby (9 October 1550-30 May 1625) was an English soldier and Member of Parliament, notable for his diary of military action in France in 1591, and his feuds over local representation in Herefordshire. Birth Thomas Coningsby was the son and heir of Humphrey Coningsby, of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, by Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Inglefield, judge of the common pleas. His father, a gentleman-treasurer to Queen Elizabeth, was a grandson of Sir Humphrey Coningsby. Early life and military service In 1571 he was said to be love in with Frances Howard (died 1598), a young woman in the household of Elizabeth I. She and her sister Douglas Howard were rivals for the affections of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Frances Howard later married the Earl of Hertford. Coningsby visited Italy with Sir Philip Sidney in 1573, and he was intimate with Sidney until Sir Philip's death, although their friendship was severely strained on their Italian journey by an unfounded charge of robbery brought by Sidney against Coningsby. Coningsby went to Normandy in attendance on the Earl of Essex in 1591, and took part in the siege of Rouen, fighting against the forces of the league. He acted as muster-master to the English detachment, was in frequent intercourse with Henry of Navarre before Rouen, and was knighted by Essex on 8 October 1591. Coningsby was High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1582 and 1598 and knight of the shire (MP) for Herefordshire in 1593, 1597 and 1601.