William Coningsby

Who was William Coningsby?

Sir William Coningsby, was an English MP and Justice of the King's Bench.

William Coningsby was born the son of Sir Humphrey Coningsby of Aldenham, Hertfordshire and was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, becoming a Fellow of that college. He was Lent Reader at the Inner Temple 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, in 1526.

He was Recorder of Lynn from 1524 until his death in September 1540 and appointed a serjeant-at-law and Justice of the King's Bench in 1540. In 1536 he was elected to represent King's Lynn in Parliament.

He died at Eston Hall, near Wallington, Hertfordshire. He had married Beatrice, the daughter of Thomas Thoresby of Lynn and the widow of William Trew. They had a son and four daughters. His daughter Margaret married Sir Robert Alington, the son of Sir Giles Alington, of Horseheath, High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire.