Thomas Honywood

English soldier and Member of Parliament

For other people named Thomas Honywood, see Thomas Honywood (disambiguation).

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.[1] He was seated at Marks Hall, Essex.[2]

## Life

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The eldest son of Robert Honywood and grandson of Mary Honywood, Honywood was born at Betchworth Castle, Surrey.[1] He was the half-brother of Sir Robert Honywood.[3] 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.[1] He was created D.C.L. at Oxford University on 9 September 1651.[4]

## In Parliament

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Sir Thomas was elected to Parliament as member for Essex in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate,[5] 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

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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.[1]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Cokayne, George Edward (1910). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. London : The St. Catherine press, ltd. p. 614. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
2. ^ Eales, Jacqueline (2004). "Honywood [née Waters], Mary (1527–1620), matriarch and sustainer of protestant martyrs". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13666. Retrieved 6 April 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. ^ Latham, Robert and Matthews, Charles "The Diary of Samuel Pepys" Vol.X Companion p.191
4. ^ 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Hieron-Horridge', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 706–747. Date accessed: 7 August 2011
5. ^ Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.

## Sources

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* 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) [1]

Parliament of England

Preceded by

Joachim Matthews
Henry Barrington
John Brewster
Christopher Earl
Dudley Templer

|  Member of Parliament for Essex
1654–1656
With:  Sir William Masham Bt 1654
Richard Cutts 1654
Herbert Pelham 1654
Sir Henry Mildmay 1654–1656
Carew Mildmay 1654–1656
Sir Thomas Bowes 1654–1656
Thomas Coke (of Pebmarsh) 1654
Sir Richard Everard, 1st Baronet of Much Waltham 1654–1656
Dionysius Wakering 1654–1656
Edward Turnor 1654–1656
Oliver Raymond 1654–1656
Sir Harbottle Grimston 1656
Robert Barrington 1656
Dudley Temple 1656
Hezekiah Haynes 1656
John Archer 1656  | Succeeded by

Lord Rich
Edward Turnor