Person Page - 40749

     George Coningsby was born after 1686.² He was the son of Thomas Coningsby and Chrysogen Emes.² He married Elizabeth Barbara Browne, daughter of Michael Browne and Elizabeth Phillipa Coningsby, on 15 January 1729/30 at Ye Ford Chapel, Bodenham, Herefordshire, England^G.^1,2 He died on 15 March 1766.^3,2 He was buried on 20 March 1766.²
     Vicar of Bodenham and rector of Pencombe

From The General Collection - Hereford Notes Soc Genealogists
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The Rev George Coningsby of Penscombe Co Hereford. D.D.

To be buried with his late wife in the vault of Penscombe Church Yard. Library to Balliol College, £200 for repairs of the Chapel at Grendon Court. Dr Thomas Cameron of Worcester & his children, John Ingram of Bewdley, atourney. Edward Basneby of Brocklington Co Hereford. Reutes the will of late mother Chrosogen Watson who left £500 to testators half brother William Watson. Neices Chrosogen Vaughn & Thomasia Ffallowes
Sister Elizabeth Barnes £500, Picture of Grandfather Emes to be hung up in grandfathers hospital at Pershore. Other pictures to be hung in great parlor at Grendon

Will Proved 14 July 1701
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Process of estates at Pershore to cousins Chrisogen Hayward widow and Phillipa Wilmot, widow. Their children and the children of late cousin Mary Beale dec'd, sister of said Chrisogen & Phillipa

The Manor of Grendon Warren Co Hereford & Hayden aka Haythorn & in Grendon to kinsman Coningsby Harris of Clains Co Worcs, gent. & his heirs, reminder to Mrs Susan Elletson.

Residue of Hereford estates to Roger Elletson son of said Susan, reminder to her heirs. The possesor of Grendon to take the name of Coningsby.

Mentions the Rt Hon Lady Francis Coningsby, The Hon Mrs Walsingham, her son in law and the Hon Mr Trevor
Founds a free school in Pencombe

Source:Printed
Title:Gentleman ‘s Magazine xxxvi 152
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March 1766

List of DEATHS for the Year 1766

Mar. 15.1)
Rev. Dr Coningsby, Rector of Pencomb, in Hereford; he has left his library to Balliol College, and £300 to two of the fellows to make a catalogue of them.²
He was also known as Rev.² Reference: 282.²

     John Newton was the son of Sir Michael Newton, 4th Bt. and Margaret Coningsby, Countess of Coningsby.² He died before 8 June 1732 at Haydor, Lincolnshire, England^G.^3,2 He was buried on 8 June 1732 at Haydor, Lincolnshire, England^G.²
     Reference: 283.² Died a victim of an accidental fall
Died as an infant.² He was also known as Lord Coningsby.²

     Mary Webb was the daughter of Lt.-Gen. Daniel Webb.¹ She married Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Henry Theophilius Clements, son of Rt. Hon. Nathaniel Clements and Hannah Gore, on 2 June 1770.¹ She died in November 1777.¹
     From 2 June 1770, her married name became Clements.¹

     Cecil Frances Ann Anne Blacker Smyly was born on 16 June 1865 at Ballymagran, County Tyrone, Ireland.² She was the daughter of Very Rev. Andrew Ferguson Smyly and Elizabeth Alexander.^1,3 She married Major Arthur Clement Smyth, son of Reverend Mitchell Smyth and Anne Elizabeth Heyland, on 2 October 1884 at St. Columbs Cathedral, Londonderry, County Londonderry, Ireland.^1,2 She died on 19 February 1924 at age 58 at County Londonderry, Ireland.²
     Cecil Frances Ann Anne Blacker Smyly usually went by her middle name of Frances.¹ From 2 October 1884, her married name became Smyth.¹

     Terence Morell McKenna was born circa September 1894 at Marylebone, London, England^G.¹ He is the son of Theodore McKenna and Ethel Margaret Morell Mackenzie.¹ He married, firstly, Philippa Wintringham circa 1924.¹ He married, secondly, Louise Joyce Philipson circa June 1926 at St. George Hanover Square, London, England^G.¹ He married, thirdly, Anne Maria de Nys before 1931.¹

     Justin Morell McKenna was born circa March 1896 at Marylebone, London, England^G.¹ He was the son of Theodore McKenna and Ethel Margaret Morell Mackenzie.¹ He died on 2 November 1917.¹

     Captain George Michael Keane was born on 30 May 1875.² He was the son of Sir Richard Henry Keane, 4th Bt. and Adelaide Sidney Vance.^1,3 He married Violet Ida McKenna, daughter of Theodore McKenna and Ida Ellen Hewitt, on 7 June 1909.² He died on 2 February 1957 at age 81.²
     He gained the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy.²

     Sir Richard Henry Keane, 4th Bt. was born on 13 June 1845.² He was the son of Sir John Henry Keane, 3rd Bt. and Laura Keatinge.³ He married Adelaide Sidney Vance, daughter of John Vance, on 30 July 1872.² He died on 17 October 1892 at age 47.²
     He was a civil engineer.² He succeeded as the 4th Baronet Keane, of Cappoquin House, co. Waterford [U.K., 1801] on 26 November 1881.² He held the office of High Sheriff of County Waterford in 1882.² He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of County Waterford.²

     Sir Henry Coningsby was born on 20 July 1614 at The Weld, Shenley, Herefordshire, England^G.^3,2 He was the son of Thomas Coningsby and Martha Button.² He married Hester Cambell on 12 February 1639/40 at St. Margaret, Westminster, London, England^G.² He died at North Mimms, Herefordshire, England^G.^3,2
     Sir Henry Coningsby also went by the nick-name of Harry.² Translator
Trustee of Droitwich Hospital
Knighted 1660
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Harry sold the North Mimms estate to Sir Nicholas Hide in 1658, retired with his mother to Weld or Wold Hall, Shenley, Hertfordshire, married Hester Cambell, and was knighted at the restoration.

He devoted his efforts to the compilation of an essay on his fathers sad career, and to a free verse translation of Boethius's Consolation on Philosophy'. These works were printed together, apparantly for private distribution, in 1664. The British Museum copy, which formerly belonged to Rev Thomas Corser, contains a manuscript letter addressed by Coningsby (30 March 1665) to Sir Thomas Hide, the son of the purchaser of North Mimms, requesting Sir Thomas to 'allow this little book a little roome' in the house which was so nearly associated with the 'glorious and honest deportment of my dear father'
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CONINGSBY, Sir HARRY (fl 1604),

Translator, was son of Thomas Coningsby of North Mimms, Hertfordshire. The family was descended from John, third son of Sir Humphrey Coningsby, a judge under Henry VIII see CONINGSBY, SIR WILLIAM. John Coningsby married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Henry Frowick of North Mimms. Sir Harry’s grandfather was Sir Ralph, who was Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1596. His father, Thomas, born in 1691, was high sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1638 and in 1642; avowed himself a supporter of Charles I; was arrested by the parliamentarians at St. Albans early in 1643, while endeavouring to execute a commission of array; was imprisoned first in London House, and afterwards in the Tower; was deprived of most of his property; was released from the Tower after seven years suffering in 1650; translated into English Justus Lipsius’s ‘Discourse on Constancy,’ of which nothing has survived; and died on 1 Oct. 1654. Harry, Thomas’s only son, sold the North Mimms estate to Sir Nicholas Hide in 1658, retired with his mother to Weild or Wold hall, Shenley, Hertfordshire, married Hester Cambell, and was knighted

Source Debretts
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The Coningsby Wall: Areley Kings
By J. Stanley Leatherbarrow, M.A., F.S.A.

The visitor to the parish church of St. Bartholomew, Areley Kings, situated on a hill overlooking the Severn opposite the town of Stourport-on-Severn could hardly miss the huge block of red sandstone situated on the western border of the churchyard not far from the west end of the church. Closer examination would reveal an inscription cut in the stone in large letters: LITHOLOGEMA QUARE: REPONITUR SIR HARRY. This curious jumble of Greek, Latin and English means 'Why a stone monument? Sir Harry lies here'. Who was Sir Harry and why does he lie there? The usual story which is given in explanation is that he was Sir Harry Coningsby of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, who dropped his only child into the moat and who, in extremes of grief at its drowning retired to live a hermit’s life at a small property which he owned in the parish called the Sturt. The story goes on to say that he planted three walnut trees near the wall and made a bequest in his will that the boys of the parish were to crack nuts on his monument on a certain day of the year. However, in the Napoleonic Wars walnutwood was so valuable for gunstocks that the trees were cut down and the village lads deprived of their sport. lt is a pretty story and perhaps worth a little further examination.

In 'Country Life' in the early part of 1973 a series of magnificent illustrated articles appeared about Hampton Court which has recently been sold away from the family of Lord Hereford which has owned it for many generations. Unfortunately the article which was quite explicit about the family of Coningsby which owned it and rebuilt much of it contained no reference to this story nor indeed to any Sir Harry at the appropriate date. I wrote a letter to 'Country Life' which appeared on July 12th relating the story and pointing out the omission. This elicited a reply to me from Miss Penelope Morgan, Joint Librarian of Hereford Cathedral Library, informing me that she had examined the pedigree of the Coningsby of Hampton Court and could find no reference to a Sir Harry. Neither did she think that there was ever a moat at Hampton Court. However, a Sir Harry is recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XII pp I0-11 who flourished in 1664 and was the son of Thomas Coningsby of North Mimms, Hertfordshire.

This provided a clue for an exciting search in an entirely different direction.

Two substantial facts stand out. There certainly was a Sir Harry Coningsby buried at Areley Kings and a house called 'the Sturt' still survives in that parish. This word Sturt is of some little interest in itself. According to the Worcestershire volume in the English Place Names Society series, STERUTHALE is a personal name also found in the registers of LEIGH in 1275. But more significant is its derivation from the Anglo-Saxon STEORT, meaning a tail or an extremity or a promontory and the Sturt in question is indeed situated in a remote place on the fringe of the Areley Kings parish on the borders of Rock and perhaps ten miles from the Herefordshire border. Of Sir Harry’s location there could be no doubt, for according to the Areley Kings Registers in an entry for 1701 'Sir Harry Consby, Knight, was buried the 6 day of November in wollin according to ye late Act of Parliament'. So Sir Harry had been interred decently and in order in pursuance of government policy to boost the country’s flagging wool trade.


But now it was time to set off in pursuit of the legend. I could trace it no further back than Nash’s 'Worcestershire' where our scholarly County Historian speaks of Sir Harry Coningsby of Herefordshire where he had a house moated round. He had an only child and, playing with it one day at a window, accidentally let it fall into the water and it was drowned. The misfortune affected him so much that he afterward avoided all intercourse with the world and ended his days at a farmhouse in this parish (vis. Areley Kings) called the Sturt. He was buried near this wall where is a walnut tree planted upon his grave by his own direction. So Nash, writing, say, 70 years after Coningsby’s death appears to be the first begetter of the story. He a little belies the eremitical temperament of the knight by recording that Sir Harry Coningsby of Areley was one of the original trustees of the Droitwich Hospital endowed by the will of the Rr. Hon. Henry Coventry. Noak in 1856 lifts the story from Nash but improves the child of indeterminate sex, it, into one child, a daughter, and makes Sir Harry a widower who removes to the Sturt to lead a solitary’ life. The Victoria County History’ reproduces Noak’s version in a footnote. The story reaches full blossom in Maxwell Fraser’s 'Companion into Worcestershire' where Sir Harry is described as having, as a young man, lived at Hampton Court and as having dropped his only child, a son, into the moat. The walnut trees and their ultimate fate as gunstocks are also mentioned.

It is all a little puzzling but Miss Morgan has put us on the right lines by directing us to Hertfordshire and there, at the County Record Office at Hertford, we get some real elucidation in the shape of the pedigree of the Herefordshire Coningsbys. Sir Humphrey Coningsby, Knight, one of the judges of the King’s Bench in 1510 had three sons. The first, Thomas, is described as of Hampton Court in the County of Hereford; sheriff of that county in the 24th and 40th years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign and ancestor of Earl Coriingsby. The second son is a Sir William, ono of the King’s justices and the third, John, who particularly concerns us, was sheriff of Hertfordshire in the 38th year of Henry VIII’s reign. Thus the eldest son is to be found in Herefordshire and the youngest in Hertfordshire. This third son, John, has a son, Sir Henry Coningsby of the Weld and of North Mimms who is sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1569 and is knighted in 1593. his son, Sir Ralph of North Mimms is sheriff in 1596, and Sir Ralph’s son is Thomas Coningsby, sheriff of Hertfordshire who is buried in the chapel at North Mimms. Finally, we have Sir Harry Coningsby, the subject of our enquiry, son of Thomas, and described as of the Weld, in the parish of Shenley. Thus we have traced Sir Harry to his original home and he is the great, great grandson of the John whose eldest brother is described as of Hampton Court.

We must pause for a moment at this point, for Thomas, Sir Harry’s father, is a person of some consequence. Thomas served the office of sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1637 and according to the County Historian suffered greatly for his attachment to the cause of Charles! who, in 1642 prevailed upon him for a second time to execute the office of sheriff. The King’s commission is preserved in which he warns that the office 'although it may bring upon you great expence and trouble, yet we are confident you will not value it in regard to our service, and the good of that our county which shall not be forgotten by us on all occasions. So we bid you heartily farewell. From our court at Reading the 11th of November, 1642.' (Chauncy’s Hist. Antiq. of Herts. p462).

Thomas thereupon received a writ and proclamation to array the county for the King’s service. The writ was executed at St. Albans, but there he was made prisoner by Cromwell for executing the commission of array, his house was plundered, his estate seized and he himself was imprisoned in the Tower where lie remained for seven years. Released in 1650 it was probably during this sojourn in the Tower that he made a translation into English of Justus Lipsius’s 'Discourse on Constancy' of which nothing has survived, lie died on October 1st 1654 and was followed by our Sir harry who sold the North Mimrns estate in 1658 to Sir Nicholas Hide whilst he himself retired with his mother to live at Weld or Wold Hall, Shenley. It appears that he was a man of letters who wrote an essay on his loyalist father’s career and also a free translation of Boethius’s 'Consolation of Philosophy’’ which was printed for private distribution in 1664. A memorial tablet on the south wall of the chance! of Astley Church records an epitaph in memory of the Revd. Thomas Bowater which was composed by Sir Harry in 1696

His soul heaven has;
Dirt dirt does cover;
Our Saviour saw one such;
We one other;
Of his successors shall be said hereafter
As good or bad, as like, unlike Bowater.

The pedigree records that Sir Harry married in 1639, Hester, daughter of Robert Cambell, alderman of London and there were four children, Thomas, who died young and Genevieva, Martha Agnes and Theophania whose marriages are all recorded. But with Thomas who died young, the male line of this part of the Coningsby’s came to an end. Is it possible that this laconic 'ob young' in the pedigree has led us to the very child whose tragic drowning in the moat drove the bereaved father to seek solace in a lonely farmhouse in Worcestershire? We have one additional item of confirmation to sustain this dis-covery, Chauncy’s 'Hertfordshire' says, concerning Weld Hall, Sir Harry’s home, 'the manor house is ancient, well situated and compassed with a moat having a part adjoining it'. The story seems established and Sir Harry moves to Worcestershire where his presence is further testified by a deed in the Hertfordshire County Record Office of 1692, being a lease for a year between Sir Harry Coningsby of 'Arley Regis, Worcester, Knight' and two other gentlemen concerning lands in Hertfordshire and two half 'phats and bullaries of salt water' in Netherwich and Upwich, Worcestershire.

But what of the postscript to the story, the will and the walnut trees all we can only put this down to Nash’s gossip,

‘Sir Harry Coningsby of the Sturt in the parish of Arley Kings in the County of Worcester, Knight, being very ancient and sensible of my mortality and in good mind and memory, do make and ordain this my last will and testament in witing And first I commend my soul to God and mv body to Christian burial And as to my worldly estate, I dispose thereof as followeth. First I will that all such just debts which I shall happen to owe at the time of my death be honestly paid. Item, I desire that my executors take care that my body be decently interred in wool. All the rest and residue of my goods, chattels, debts and personal estate whatsoever I give and bequeath unto John Partridge and Elizabeth his wife whom I make and ordain executors of this my will and I do hereby revoke all former wills by me made. in witness whereof I have here unto put my hand and seal, time 20th day of September A.D. 1694. Harry Coningsby, signed and sealed and published in the presence of us, Coningsby Williams, William Hay and William Francis Anthony Henry Longmore’’.

Two queries remain. how came Sir Harry Coningsby, the Hertfordshire gentleman to possess a property in the fastnesses of Worcestershire to which he decided to retire? Was it a property which derived from his remote connection with the Herefordshire Coningsbys who, after all, were not many miles away? And who were Mr. and Mrs. Partridge, sole legatees of his Worcestershire estate? Were they a couple who had housekept for him in this lonely spot and had afforded him some creature comforts at his life’s end?

To sum up. Our 'legend'’ seems to contain a good deal of truth. Sir Harry Coningsby, a Hertfordshire gentleman of ancient lineage and distant connection with the Herefordshire family’ of the same name, is a 17th century man, born into family tragedy’ of civil strife, lie himself sustains a private tragic bereavement whereby he loses his only son and his branch of the family comes to an end. He seeks solace in a lonely existence in a remote property in Worcestershire where he has some small contact with the business and social affairs of the county. A man of some literary pretensions. he secures his immortality in an unusual gravestone which at the same time discharges his legal obligation as a landowner to provide fencing for the churchyard boundary.

As to his direction about walnut trees we have no firm evidence and must rely on Nash for this scrap of hearsay. Nevertheless it provides a pleasant epilogue to our story. In 1948, Canon Roger Francis, Rector of Areley Kings anxious to repair the damage wrought by the gunstocks of the Napoleonic Wars, caused three walnut trees to be planted hard by the wall, in pious hope that some day choir boy’s might, in due course, be able to implement Sir Harry ‘s original intention by cracking nuts on his wall.
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1st son.²

     David Hyde was born at Earles Court, Berkshire, England^G.² He married Cecilia FitzWilliam Coningsby, daughter of FitzWilliam Coningsby and Cecily Neville, on 23 May 1654 at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, London, England^G.^3,2
     Reference: 291.²