Sir Thomas Honywood (15 January 1586 – 26 May 1666) was an English soldier during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

and later a

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 o ...

and also called to Parliament as Thomas, Lord Honywood. He was seated at

Marks Hall Marks Hall was a Jacobean country house some north of Coggeshall in Essex, England. Previously a timber manor house, the 17th-century brick building was demolished in 1950. History In 1163 the manor house and estate of Markshall were granted ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

Life

The eldest son of Robert Honywood and grandson of

Mary Honywood Mary Honywood or Mary Waters (1527 – 1620) was a British co-heiress who visited the Marian martyrs. She lived to have 114 grandchildren and, in total, 367 descendants in her lifetime. Life Honywood was born in Lenham in Kent in 1527. She was a ...

, Honywood was born at

Betchworth Castle Betchworth Castle is a mostly crumbled ruin of a fortified medieval stone house with some tall, two-storey corners strengthened in the 18th century, in the north of the semi-rural parish of Brockham. It is built on a sandstone spur overlooking ...

, 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 A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

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 Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 161212 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented command ...

, he led the Essex forces at the

Siege of Colchester The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Royalist army on its way through East Anglia to raise suppo ...

. 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 The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell d ...

in 1651. He was created D.C.L. at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

on 9 September 1651.'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Hieron-Horridge', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 706–747. Date accessed: 7 August 2011
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In Parliament

Sir Thomas was elected to Parliament as member for

in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Second Parliaments of

the Protectorate The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, refers to the period from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659 during which England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and associated territories were joined together in the Co ...

, and in 1658 was raised to Cromwell's new

Upper House An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

. However, he was distrusted by the hardline Puritans and considered "rather soft in his spirit". He retired from public life after the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

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 John Lamotte Honywood (1647–1694) of Marks Hall, Essex was an English Member of Parliament and High Sheriff of Essex. He was born the 2nd surviving son of Sir Thomas Honywood of Marks Hall, who had been a leading Parliamentary soldier during th ...

; their daughter Elizabeth Honywood married Sir John Cotton. He died at his son-in-law's home, Cotton House, in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

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 Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...

, ''Memoirs of several persons and families... allied to or descended from... the Protectorate-House of Cromwell'' (Birmingham: Pearson & Rollason, 1784

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honywood, Thomas 1586 births 1666 deaths Military personnel from Surrey Knights Bachelor Members of Cromwell's Other House Members of the Inner Temple People from Braintree District Alumni of the University of Oxford Roundheads English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War