Sir William Cornwallis (c. 1576 – 1 July 1614) was an early English essayist and served as a courtier and member of Parliament.
His essays, influenced by the style of Montaigne, rather than that of Francis Bacon, became a model for later English essayists.
Cornwallis was born in Beeston St Andrew, Norfolk, and baptised in Fincham, Norfolk, the eldest child of the diplomat Sir Charles Cornwallis by his first wife Elizabeth Farnham (1552–1584), the daughter of Thomas Farnham, whose family resided in Fincham for 500 years.
[2] Their eleven children were Charles, Thomas (married Penelope Wiseman (1633–1696)), Henry, William, John, Phillip (d. 1688, rector of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk), Frances (1602–1675; married Thomas Paston and was buried at Burnham Thorpe), Katherine, Bridget, Anne, Jeane.
[5] He spent freely and accumulated debts paid by selling family estates.