Humphrey Coningsby (judge)

Sir Humphrey Coningsby
Born	Rock, Worcestershire, England
Died	2 June 1535 England
Occupation	Lawyer, judge
Parent(s)	Thomas Coningsby, Catherine Waldiffe

Sir Humphrey Coningsby, (d. 2 June 1535), was an English lawyer, a senior judge as a Justice of the King's Bench and a major landholder.

Humphrey Coningsby was born shortly before 1460, the son of Thomas Coningsby and his wife Catherine Waldiffe, at the village of Rock in Worcestershire where his father held the manor of Bower, which had been in the family since at least 1351.

Entering the law, he was practising as an attorney in the Court of Common Pleas by 1474 and in 1476 acted as Deputy to the Sheriff of Worcestershire. In the 1480s he was the third Prothonotary, the Clerk of Assize on the Western Circuit and became a Bencher of the Inner Temple. Chosen a justice of the peace for Hertfordshire in 1493, he was created a Serjeant-at-Law in 1495, with clients including Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Buckingham. In 1504 he was added to the commission of the peace for Worcestershire and was promoted to King's Serjeant in 1505. On 21 May 1509, he became a Justice of the King's Bench, being knighted by King Henry VIII that year, and held his position until 28 November 1533.

In parallel with his legal work, he actively acquired country estates. About 1485 he was executor to Ralph Penne, owner of Penne's Place in Aldenham, Hertfordshire, which he bought. It remained in the family until 1651. From Penne he also acquired the manor of Pigott's in Aldenham. In June 1488, jointly with his first wife Isabel, he bought from William Berkeley, then Earl of Nottingham, the manor of North Piddle in Worcestershire, which descended in the family until 1654. At the same time he acquired the manor of Stottesdon in Shropshire.

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