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 Lostwithiel, 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]
There are sources that give Thomas Cornwallis, Member of Parliament for Suffolk 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][16]