Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/283

 in the church of St. Mary, Moorfields, where there is a monument to his memory, with a Latin inscription. The Rev. Lewis Havard preached the funeral sermon, which was printed. Poynter's heart was deposited beneath the altar at St. Edmund's College, Ware.

His portrait, engraved by R. Fenner, forms the frontispiece to the ‘Catholic Miscellany,’ vol. iv. (1825). Another portrait appeared in the ‘Laity's Directory’ for 1829.

Poynter's separate publications were: 1. ‘A Theological Examination of the Doctrine of Columbanus [i.e. Charles O'Conor, 1764–1828 [q. v.] ] (contained in his third letter) on the Spiritual Jurisdiction of Bishops and the difference between a Bishop and a Priest,’ London, 1811, 8vo. 2. ‘Instructions and Directions addressed to all the Faithful in the London District, for gaining the Grand Jubilee,’ London, 1826, 24mo. 3. ‘Christianity; or the Evidences and Characters of the Christian Religion,’ London, 1827, 8vo; translated into Italian (at Rome in 1828).

Poynter's ‘Narrative of the Seizure of Douay College, and of the Deportation of the Seniors, Professors, and Students to Dourlens,’ in continuation of the narrative of the Rev. Joseph Hodgson [q. v.], was printed in the ‘Catholic Magazine and Review’ (Birmingham), vol. i. (1831), pp. 397, 457. A translation, by the Abbé L. Dancoine, appears in ‘Le Collège Anglais de Douai pendant la Révolution,’ Douay, 1881, 8vo. ‘An Unpublished Correspondence between Poynter and Dr. C. O'Conor, on Foreign-influencing Maxims, with Observations on the Canonical and Legal Securities against such Maxims,’ appeared in O'Conor's ‘Columbanus,’ No. vi, London, 1813. To the ‘Laity's Directory’ for 1813 to 1828 inclusively, Poynter contributed an annual article called ‘New Year's Gifts,’ as well as ‘Reflections on British Zeal for the Propagation of Christianity, and on the State of Christianity in England,’ to that periodical in 1829 (p. 75). He was also responsible for ‘The Catholic Soldier's and Sailor's Prayer Book,’ which was reprinted, with additions, by the Rev. Thomas Unsworth, London, 1858, 12mo.

[Amherst's Hist. of Catholic Emancipation, ii. 353; Butler's Hist. Memoirs, 1822, iv. 379, 469–523; Butler's Reminiscences, p. 301; Catholic Magazine and Review, ii. 260; Catholic Miscellany, 1827, vii. 284, viii. 432, ix. 72; Husenbeth's Life of Milner, p. 584; London and Dublin Orthodox Journal, 1842, xv. 103; Ward's Hist. of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, 1893.]  POYNTZ, FRANCIS (d. 1528), diplomatist, was third son of Sir Robert Poyntz (d. 1521) of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, and his wife Margaret, natural daughter of Anthony Wydevill, earl Rivers [q. v.], by Gwentlian, daughter of William Stradling. The family was descended from the Barons Poyntz, who had been prominent in the Welsh and Scottish wars of Edward I (cf., Fœdera, orig. ed. vol. ii. passim; Parl. Writs; , Baronage; and , Complete Peerage), and had long been settled in Gloucestershire. The father officiated at many court ceremonies, was chancellor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and in 1520 attended Henry VIII to France. From a brother was descended the Poyntz family of Essex, and from his second son, John, father of Robert Poyntz [q. v.], the family of Alderley, Gloucestershire (, More about Stifford, p. 128).

Francis was in 1516 appointed esquire of the body to Henry VIII, and became a carver in the royal household in 1521. In 1526 he was granted custody of the manor of Holborn, ‘in the suburbs of London,’ during the minority of Edward Stanley, third earl of Derby [q. v.], and in the same year he received some of the forfeited lands of Edward Stafford, third duke of Buckingham [q. v.] In 1527 he was sent as ambassador to the emperor, with instructions to mediate peace between him and Francis I, and to threaten war in the Netherlands if Charles V declined these overtures. He was also to remonstrate with the emperor on his treatment of the pope and the sack of Rome. Poyntz travelled by way of Paris, where he was joined by the French ambassador to the emperor, and arrived at Madrid on 1 July. But his embassy met with little success, and he left Spain in October, having an interview with Francis at Paris on the way back. He died of the plague in London on 25 June 1528. He married Jane or Joan, daughter of Sir Matthew Browne of Betchworth, Surrey, but left no issue. At the request of his eldest brother Anthony, Sir Francis wrote ‘The Table of Cebes the Philosopher, Translated out of Latine into Englishe by Sir Francis Poyngs;’ it was published in 16mo by Berthelet probably about 1530; a copy is in the British Museum Library.

(1480?–1533) inherited Iron Acton, where his descendants were seated for many generations. He was knighted in 1513, when he commanded a ship in Howard's expedition against France. In September 1518 he was sent on an embassy to the French king, and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in July 1520. In