Anthony Mildmay

Sir Anthony Mildmay (died 1617) of Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire, served as a Member of Parliament for Wiltshire from 1584 to 1586 and as English ambassador in Paris in 1597.

Origins Mildmay was the eldest son of Sir Walter Mildmay (d.1589) of Apethorpe, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I and founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, by his wife Mary Walsingham, a sister of Sir Francis Walsingham.

Career He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and delivered an oration with much success when Queen Elizabeth I visited the College on 9 August 1564. He entered Gray's Inn in 1579. He served as Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1580 and 1592. He was a Member of Parliament for Newton in Lancashire, in 1571, and for Wiltshire from 1584 to 1586. The French King complained of Mildmay's ungenial manner and of the coldness with which he listened to the praises of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. At an interview in March 1597 Henry ordered him out of his chamber and threatened to strike him. He returned home later in the year, and declined an invitation to resume the post in 1598. His portrait survives at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.