William Cornwallis (died 1611) explained
Sir William Cornwallis of Brome (c. 1549– 13 November 1611) was an English courtier and politician.[1]
Life
He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Cornwallis, Comptroller of the Household to Queen Mary, and his wife Anne Jerningham. He became a courtier at around age 21, spent heavily to secure position there, and married by 1578,[1] Lucy Neville.
Despite a family connection to Thomas Cecil, Cornwallis made little enough progress at court, and twice withdrew without regard for the loss of royal favour. In 1597 he was elected Member of Parliament for, with the support of Cecil. When James VI and I came to the throne he fared no better, and he retired from public life in 1605.[1]
Cornwallis spent freely and entertained the Queen at his house in Highgate. He was knighted, by 1594. At the Union of the Crowns, in June 1603 he rode to Northamptonshire to meet Anne of Denmark and her children.[2]
He laid on a performance by his friend Ben Jonson at Highgate in 1604, for James I. He employed the composer Thomas Watson and other musical and literary men.[3]
Cornwallis died on 13 November 1611.[1]
Family
Cornwallis married, first, Lucy Neville, daughter of John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer and Lucy Somerset. After her death, he married Jane Mewtas.[1] She was a lady in waiting to Anne of Denmark and as a wedding gift the queen gave her a jewel studded with diamonds made by George Heriot.[4] The Cornwallis family lived at Brome Hall near Diss in Norfolk.[5]
Of the daughters:
There are sources that give Thomas Cornwallis, Member of Parliament for in 1625, as a son of Sir William by his first wife.[13] The History of Parliament, on the other hand, gives his father as John Cornwallis of Earl Soham.[14] Sir William Cornwallis, the essayist, was a nephew who is sometimes described as "the younger" to differentiate him from this William Cornwallis, who is often described as "the elder".[15]
Notes and References
- Web site: Cornwallis, Sir William (c.1549–1611), of Brome Hall, Suff. and London, History of Parliament Online. 12 July 2016.
- HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 15 (London, 1930), p. 147.
- Book: H. R. Woudhuysen. Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts, 1558-1640. 23 May 1996. Clarendon Press. 978-0-19-159102-0. 259.
- [Jemma Field]
- Book: H. R. Woudhuysen. Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts, 1558-1640. 23 May 1996. Clarendon Press. 978-0-19-159102-0. 258.
- Web site: Cornwallis, Sir Frederick, 1st Bt. (1611–62), of Culford, Suff., History of Parliament Online. 12 July 2016.
- http://suffolkinstitute.pdfsrv.co.uk/customers/Suffolk%20Institute/2014/01/10/Volume%20XXIX%20Part%202%20(1962)_The%20other%20Elizabeth%20Drury%20V%20Salmon_198%20to%20207.pdf Vivian Salmon, The Other Elizabeth Drury: a Tragic Marriage in the Family of John Donne's Patron, Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology 29, pp. 198–207(1963) (PDF)
- Web site: Sandys, Sir William (c.1575–1628), of Winchester, Hants and Clerkenwell Green, Mdx., History of Parliament Online. 12 July 2016.
- 66528. Andrew J.. Hopper. Lumley, Elizabeth, Viscountess Lumley of Waterford.
- Book: James Charles Blomfield. History of the present deanery of Bicester, Oxon. 4 January 2011. British Library, Historical Print Editions. 122.
- Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, Court and Times of James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1849), pp. 8-9.
- 68036. Rosalind K.. Marshall. Cornwallis, Anne.
- Book: John Burke. A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. 1832. H. Colburn and R. Bentley. 291–.
- Web site: Cornwallis, Thomas I (1579–1627), of Earl Soham and Ipswich, Suff., History of Parliament Online. 12 July 2016.
- Hebel, J. William (ed.). "Notes" on Cornwallis, Prose of the English Renaissance, Ardent Media, 1952
