Thomas Poynings, 1st Baron Poynings (1512? - 1545) was an English soldier and courtier.

He was one of the three illegitimate sons of Sir Edward Poynings of Westenhanger

Westenhanger

Westenhanger is a small village in south east Kent. It is home to Folkestone Racecourse and to Westenhanger Castle. It is located just south of Junction 11 of the M20, on Stone Street, the Roman road which runs from Lympne to Canterbury. Westenhanger also has its own railway station....

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England. He married Katherine, daughter of John, 2nd Lord Marney and the widow of George Ratcliffe sometime before 1539.

Katherine inherited land in the west country and Poynings began to acquire additional land in Wiltshire, Cornwall and Somerset, as well as exchanging Westenhanger for a grant of monastic land in Dorset (including Bindon Abbey

Bindon Abbey

Bindon Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, of which only ruins remain, on the River Frome about half a mile east of Wool in the Purbeck District, Dorset, England.- History :...

). In the 1540s, he served King Henry VIII as Marshal of Calais and keeper of the castle at Guînes

Guînes

Guînes is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.-Geography:Guînes is located on the border of the two territories of the Boulonnais and Calaisis, at the edge of the now-drained marshes, which extend from here to the coast. The Guînes canal connects with...

, then took an active role in the invasion of France in 1544, in particular at Montreuil and the sieges of Boulogne.

On 30 January 1545, Poynings was raised to the peerage as Baron Poynings and appointed Lieutenant of Boulogne. He died at Boulogne on 17 August 1545.