Sir Robert Honywood (3 August 1601 – 15 April 1686), also spelt Honeywood, was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in 1659. He was a member of the

English Council of State The English Council of State, later also known as the Protector's Privy Council, was first appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I. Charles' execution on 30 January was delayed for several hour ...

.Latham, Robert and Matthews, Charles ''The Diary of Samuel Pepys'' Vol. X Companion p.191 Honywood was the son of Sir Robert Honywood of Pett's Court,

Charing Charing is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. It includes the settlements of Charing Heath and Westwell Leacon. It is located at the foot of the North Downs and reaches up to the escarpment. T ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and Alice Barnham, daughter of Sir Martin Barnham of Hollingbourne. Sir

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. He was seated at Marks Hall, Essex. Life The eldes ...

was his half-brother. He matriculated at

Hart Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

on 30 October 1618, aged about 17. In 1620 he became a student of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

on 15 June 1625.'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1714: Hieron-Horridge', Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 706–747. Retrieved 6 November 2011
/ref> He spent several years in the household of

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Wi ...

, who referred to him as her "steward". In 1659, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

. During the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

his marriage into the republican Vane family put him at the heart of the Parliamentary cause (his brother Thomas was also a strong Parliamentarian). After Parliament's victory in the war he sat in the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a powe ...

and on the Council of State, and was chosen with

Algernon Sidney Algernon Sidney or Sydney (15 January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of England ...

and

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, Order of the Garter, KG Privy Council of England, PC Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Justice of the Peace, JP (27 July 162528 May 1672) was an English military officer, politician and diplomat, who fought f ...

as one of the English

plenipotentiaries A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ' ...

sent in 1659 to negotiate a peace between

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. At the same time, he maintained friendly relations with the Queen of Bohemia, and perhaps on this account no action was taken against him at the

Restoration of Charles II The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...

, who was her nephew, despite the fact that Sir

Henry Vane the Younger Sir Henry Vane (baptised 26 March 161314 June 1662), often referred to as Harry Vane and Henry Vane the Younger to distinguish him from his father, Henry Vane the Elder, was an English politician, statesman, and colonial governor. He was brie ...

, executed for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in 1662, was his brother-in-law. He retired into private life, and was mainly occupied in his later years with writing a history of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, which was published in 1673. Honywood died in 1686 at the age of about 85, leaving all his property to his wife. He married, in 1631, Frances Vane, daughter of Sir Henry Vane the Elder and Frances Darcy. She died in 1688. They had a very numerous family, many of whom died young. Robert, Charles Ludovic, Elizabeth and Frances are known to have reached adulthood; only Frances is definitely known to have outlived both her parents. Charles Ludovic married Mary Clement and was the father of several children, including Sir Philip Honywood; he died shortly after his father. Elizabeth married John Moore, son of the Irish writer

Dorothy Durie Dorothy Durie or Dorothy Dury (1613–1664), born Dorothy King, first married name Dorothy Moore (c.1618–1645), was an Anglo-Irish writer on education. She had a talent for languages and she was interested in the education of women, in alchemy a ...

(née King) and her first husband, Arthur Moore, fifth son of

Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore PC (I) (1564 – 9 November 1627) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. Birth and origins Garret was a son of Sir Edward Moore of Mellifont and his wife Elizabeth Clifford. His father was a knight and owner of ...

and Mary Colley, and had issue. She died before 1688.Collins, Arthur ''"Peerage of England"'' London 1812, vol 9, p. 16

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honywood, Robert 1601 births 1686 deaths English MPs 1659 Alumni of Hart Hall, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple People from Charing