He joined the rebellion of Jack Cade in 1450, and was slain fighting on the Yorkist side at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461.
[1][2][3] By his father's first marriage, he had an elder brother, Sir Richard Poynings (d. 10 June 1429), slain near Orleans in France, and a younger brother, Edward Poynings (d.1484), Master of Trinity College in Arundel, Sussex, and rector of North Cray, Kent.
[4][2][5] By his father's second marriage to Margaret Squery (d. 3 November 1448), elder daughter of Thomas Squery of Westerham, Kent and widow of William Cromer (d. January 1434), Lord Mayor of London, Robert Poynings had a half sister, Eleanor Poynings, who married Thomas Palmer.
[5] Poynings was slain on 17 February 1461 while fighting on the Yorkist side at the Second Battle of St Albans.
[6][7][8][5][9][10] After Poynings' death his widow married Sir George Browne of Betchworth Castle, Surrey, (beheaded on Tower Hill 4 December 1483), by whom she had two sons, Sir Matthew Browne (d. 6 August 1557), who married Frideswide Guildford, daughter of Richard Guildford, and George, and a daughter, Mary.