Coningham was born in 1670 in England and educated at
Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. on 27 February 1694. The same year he became minister of the presbyterian congregation at
Penrith. Here he employed himself in educating students for the ministry, probably with the concurrence of the "provincial meeting" of
Cumberland and
Westmorland. In 1700 he was chosen as colleague to
John Chorlton at
Cross Street Chapel, Manchester. He shared with Chorlton the tutorial work of the Manchester academy, and on Chorlton's death (1705) carried it on for seven years without assistance. His most distinguished pupils were
Samuel Bourn the younger and John Turner of
Preston, famous for his exertions against the rebel army in the
1715 Jacobite uprising. During the reign of
Queen Anne, Coningham was several times prosecuted for keeping an academy; and though a man who combined orthodoxy with a broad spirit, he was not strong enough to cope with the divergences of theological opinion in his flock. He left Manchester for London in 1712, being called to succeed Richard Stretton, M.A. (died 3 July 1712, aged 80), at Haberdashers' Hall. His health was broken, and he died on 1 September 1716. ==Works==