Anthony Kingston

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Sir Anthony Kingston (D. 14 Apr 1556)

Son of Sir William Kingston of Blackfriars, London, and holder of various positions under several Tudor monarchs.

In 1546 , as the Constable of the Tower of London, he was charged with torturing the poet and Protestant preacher Anne Askew, accused of heresy.

In 1549 Kingston was made Provost Marshal by King Edward VI and suppressed the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549 with great cruelty. After the Cornish uprising, in which some 10% of the Cornish population were slaughtered when English and mercenary forces moved into Cornwall, John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford left the task of settling scores with the Cornish to Anthony Kingston. Kingston was responsible for a series of murders and hangings of well known figures including Nicholas Boyer, the mayor of Bodmin and a number of priests were hanged, including Richard Bennet, vicar of St Veep and John Payne, portreeve of St Ives. Mayor Mayow of Gluvian in the parish of St Columb was hanged outside a tavern in St Columb. After the events Cornish historian Richard Carew observed that in Cornwall Anthony Kingston "hath left his name more memorable than commendable".^[1]

In 1556, during Mary I's reign, Anthony was involved in the Dudley plot to put Elizabeth on the throne. Arrested in Cirencester, he died the April 14 Apr on his way to London for trial, probably by his own hand.