CORNWALEYS, or CORMWALEYS, Thomas, pioneer, born about 1600 ; died in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England, in 1676. He was the son of Sir William and grandson of Sir Charles Cornwaleys, who was ambassador to Spain under James II. In the planting of the colony at St. Mary's, Cornwaleys took a leading part, and for twenty-five years his influence was conspicuous in the councils and course of the province. He commanded the force against Claiborne in 1635, and opposed the code sent out by Lord Baltimore for adoption by the general assembly in 1638, on the ground that the freemen had the right under the charter to make their own laws. Leonard Calvert, who also deputized him to act as lieutenant-general during the visit of the governor to England in 1641, appointed him deputy governor in 1638. On Calvert's return, with instructions from the proprietary, Cornwaleys refused to be sworn in as a member of the new council, for some reason which does not appear, but which doubtless had reference to the political struggle then going on in England between the king and parliament. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition against the Indians in 1642, and protested in the general assembly against the governor and his servants being exempted from military service.

He led the expedition against the Indians in 1643, and in 1644 resumed his place in the council. His manor of Cornwaleys Cross was on the head of St. Mary's river, in Maryland. Ingle and his crew plundered it, and in 1646 he brought an action of trespass against Ingle in the courts of Westminster Hall, laying his damages at £3,000. The suit was settled upon Ingle's assigning him property and claims in Maryland and Virginia in satisfaction of the demand. On 7 March, 1652, he received a grant of 4,000 acres beyond Port Tobacco creek. He became a member of the general court, 25 November, 1652, appointed assistant governor to Governor Fendall, 20 November, 1657, upon the restoration of the government to Lord Baltimore from the Puritan occupation under Claiborne. He returned to England, sailing 2 June, 1659.