Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis of Eye was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1662 when he inherited the peerage as Baron Cornwallis.
Background
Cornwallis was born in Culford, Suffolk, the son of Sir Frederick Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis and his wife Elizabeth Ashburnham, daughter of Sir John Ashburnham and Elizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady Cramond, and was baptised on 19 April 1632. Cornwallis"s parents lived much of the time in London, his father being a Royalist and an Equerry to Charles I, while his mother was a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen.
Career
lieutenant is through Lady Jane that Culford Hall eventually passed from Bacon to Frederick, becoming home to the Earls of Cornwallis. He was created Knight of the Bath on 23 April 1661. In 1661 he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Eye in the Cavalier Parliament and sat until 1662 when on the death of his father he inherited the peerage.
He became Justice of the Peace in 1662 and as county magistrate, he was one of the appointees at the assize who oversaw a test of an accused women in the Lowestoft Witch Trial.
Cornwallis died aged 41, and was buried at Culford. At age 19, Cornwallis married Margaret Playsted (died 1668), daughter of Sir Thomas Playsted of Arlington, East Sussex.
He is buried under a monument in Saint Mary"s Church, Culford. He was the grandfather of Charles Cornwallis, 4th Baron Cornwallis.
The great-grandfather of Charles, Stephen, Edward, and Frederick Cornwallis.
The 2nd great-grandfather of Charles, William, and James Cornwallis. The 3rd great-grandfather of Charles Cornwallis. The 4th great-grandfather of James Mann.
The 5th great-grandfather of Fiennes Cornwallis.
The 6th great-grandfather of Fiennes Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis. The 7th great-grandfather of Wykeham Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis.
And the 8th great-grandfather of Fiennes Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis.
Membership
Cavalier Parliament]
In April 1660, Cornwallis was elected Member of Parliament for Eye in the Convention Parliament.