CONNOCK, Richard (d.c.1620), of Calstock, Cornw.

The Connocks were prosperous tanners with an interest in tin mining. Returned for his local borough to the 1593 Parliament, Connock is not mentioned in its proceedings. He died between 11 Dec. 1619 when he made his unusually interesting will, and 15 Feb. 1620 when it was proved. At Calstock his pictures included a ‘long picture of Prince Henry’; and his best virginals, covered with crimson velvet, had been ‘the virginals of the late Queen Elizabeth of famous memory, and made in Venice’. He had another pair of virginals, which he described, in the singular, as ‘a choice instrument for sweetness’, also a viol and an Irish harp.1Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 93, 638; Birch, Prince Henry, 218; C. S. Gilbert, Hist. Surv. Cornw. i. 177; PCC 14 Soame.