Thomas Honywood

Sir Thomas Honywood (15 January 1586 – 26 May 1666) was an English soldier during the English Civil War and later a Member of Parliament and also called to Parliament as Thomas, Lord Honywood.{{cite book |last1=Cokayne |first1=George Edward |title=The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant |date=1910 |publisher=London : The St. Catherine press, ltd. |page=614 |url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo04coka/page/614 |access-date=6 April 2019}} He was seated at Marks Hall, Essex.{{cite ODNB |last1=Eales |first1=Jacqueline |title=Honywood [née Waters], Mary (1527–1620), matriarch and sustainer of protestant martyrs |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13666 |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/13666 |access-date=6 April 2019 |language=en}}

Life

The eldest son of Robert Honywood and grandson of Mary Honywood, Honywood was born at Betchworth Castle, Surrey. He was the half-brother of Sir Robert Honywood.Latham, Robert and Matthews, Charles "The Diary of Samuel Pepys" Vol.X Companion p.191 He was the head of a prominent Essex family and knighted on 22 November 1632.

On the outbreak of the Civil War he declared for the parliamentary side, and was one of the Committee for Essex in 1648. In the same year, under the command of Thomas Fairfax, he led the Essex forces at the Siege of Colchester. In 1649, he was one of those named in the commission to try the King, but did not serve on the court. He also led a regiment at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. He was created D.C.L. at Oxford University on 9 September 1651.[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117066 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Hieron-Horridge', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 706–747. Date accessed: 7 August 2011]

In Parliament

Sir Thomas was elected to Parliament as member for Essex in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate,{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=229–239}} and in 1658 was raised to Cromwell's new Upper House. However, he was distrusted by the hardline Puritans and considered "rather soft in his spirit". He retired from public life after the Restoration.

Private life

He married Hester Manning (d.1681) daughter of London merchant John La Motte, on 13 May 1634 at All Hallows, London Wall, London and the widow of London merchant John Manning (d.1634). He was succeeded by their son John Lamotte Honywood; their daughter Elizabeth Honywood married Sir John Cotton. He died at his son-in-law's home, Cotton House, in Westminster.

References

Sources

Concise Dictionary of National Biography (1930)
R. C. Latham & W. Matthews, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Volume X - Companion (London: HarperCollins, 1995)
Mark Noble, Memoirs of several persons and families... allied to or descended from... the Protectorate-House of Cromwell (Birmingham: Pearson & Rollason, 1784) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qFQDAAAAMAAJ&dq=mark+noble+memoirs+of+several+persons+and+families+allied+to+or+descended+from+the+%22protectorate+house%22+of+cromwell+birmingham+pearson+%26+rollason+1784&pg=PR1]

{{succession box

| title=Member of Parliament for Essex

| before= Joachim Matthews

| before2= Henry Barrington

| before3= John Brewster

| before4= Christopher Earl

| before5= Dudley Templer

| with = Sir William Masham Bt 1654

| with2 = Richard Cutts 1654

| with3 = Herbert Pelham 1654

| with4 = Sir Henry Mildmay 1654–1656

| with5 = Carew Mildmay 1654–1656