Adrian Poynings

Sir Adrian Poynings (c. 1512 – 15 February 1571) was a military commander and administrator. The youngest of the illegitimate children of Sir Edward Poynings, he played a prominent role in the defence of the English garrison at Le Havre in 1562–63.

Adrian Poynings, born about 1512 in Ghent, Flanders, where his father was serving as ambassador to the Emperor Maximilian, was the youngest of seven illegitimate children of Sir Edward Poynings (1459–1521) of Westenhanger Castle, Kent, by several mistresses, one of whom, Rose Whethill, daughter of Adrian Whethill (1415-1503/4) of Calais and Margaret Worsley (d. 13 December 1505), is generally considered to have been Adrian Poynings' mother.

He had two elder brothers, Thomas Poynings, 1st Baron Poynings (d.1545), and Edward Poynings (d.1546), and four sisters: Jane (or Joan) Poynings, who married firstly Thomas Clinton, 8th Baron Clinton (d.1517), by whom she was the mother of Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln (d.1585), Lord Admiral of England, and secondly, as his second wife, Sir Robert Wingfield (d.1539), by whom she had no issue; Margaret Poynings, who married Edward Barry or Barre of Sevington; Mary Poynings, who married Sir Thomas Wilsford or Wilford; and Rose Poynings (born 1505), who married a husband surnamed Lewknor.

By his father's marriage to Isabel or Elizabeth Scott (d. 15 August 1528), daughter of Sir John Scott (d.1485), Marshal of Calais, and sister of Sir William Scott, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, he had a half brother, John Poynings, who died young. His stepmother, Elizabeth Scott, was buried in Brabourne church, where she is commemorated by a brass.