HONYWOOD, Thomas

Thomas first appeared in the Hythe records in December 1439 when he brought a plea of trespass against a local man in the bailiff’s court.3 Jurats’ ct. bk. 1421-41, H 1018, f. 166. In 1442-3 he claimed exemption from the parliamentary subsidy in the hundreds of Folkestone, Heane and Worth by virtue of lands he held there jointly with his elder brother, John.4 E179/124/110; 229/139, 140 Like John, with whom he also had business interests, he was well established in the town when he was first chosen as a jurat in February 1443. This began an almost unbroken spell of 30 years as jurat and bailiff of Hythe. In the following year his role in the town’s affairs increased: in September he rode to New Romney for a special meeting of the Brodhull to discuss the Cinque Ports’ ship service for the voyage of Margaret of Anjou to England, and also in 1444 he went to Dover with his brother and other jurats to present their case in Hythe’s dispute with John Golston of Folkestone.5 White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports (Kent Rec. Ser. xix), 19; jurats’ acct. bk. H 1055, f. 62v. His employment on extraordinary business in the 1440s was not nearly so extensive as that of his brother: he attended only two other meetings of the Brodhull before October 1450 and he seems only to have been employed upon the jurats’ regular visits to their patrons on one occasion, in 1448-9, when he travelled to Gravesend to meet the warden of the Cinque Ports, James Fiennes*, Lord Saye and Sele.6 White and Black Bks. 24, 25; jurats’ acct. bk. H 1055, f. 139v. It seems likely that Thomas was responsible for maintaining the family’s business interests. As well as dealing in livestock, cereals and other merchandise with his brother, he also occasionally sold woollen cloth, horses and cattle in his own right.7 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1055, ff. 35, 57v, 88v, 119, 134v, 148v, 161, 177v, 190.

Nevertheless, in January 1449, Thomas was elected, along with the bailiff of Hythe, Nicholas Brockhill*, to attend the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster on 12 Feb. When he accounted for his maltolts in the following year he asked for an allowance from them for 13 weeks and five days spent at the parliamentary sessions at Westminster and Winchester, a total wage bill of £11 18s. At the end of the account Thomas was still owed £6 15s. 4d. by the commonalty, although in the next set of accounts a further allowance from his maltolts and payments from various other townsmen reduced the debt to only £2 17s. 1½d.8 Ibid. ff. 134v, 148v. Nothing is known of his activities at the Parliament, but on 22 Apr., between its first and second sessions, he attended his second meeting of the Brodhull, where parliamentary business was no doubt discussed.9 White and Black Bks. 28.

The 1450s saw Thomas’s status in Hythe and involvement in its affairs increase further. He served as jurat throughout the decade, although he attended only four meetings of the Brodhull, one of which was concerned with his putative brother Alan’s alleged removal of John Clyve* as one of the bailiffs to Yarmouth in 1451.10 Ibid. 28, 29, 35, 37. However, he did become more involved in extraordinary matters. In 1451, for example, he entertained Gervase Clifton* on his visit to Hythe, paid for the men that ‘went to Folkestone when the King’s enemies were there’, and attended the court of Shepway held by the new warden of the Cinque Ports, Humphrey Stafford, duke of Buckingham. In total he claimed allowances of £3 15s. 4d. in that year against the payments of his maltolts.11 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1055, f. 161v. On 25 Feb. 1453, along with Thomas Stace*, Honywood was elected to his second Parliament. Both Portsmen agreed to serve for the standard 2s. a day from the date of their departure from London en route to Reading. They both arrived on 3 Mar. and remained there until the 30th, two days after the close of the first session. They were in London on 24 Apr., for the opening of the second session at Westminster the next day, and Honywood stayed until 11 May. He was also at Westminster from the 11th to the 19th of June. For Parliament’s third session at Reading Honywood left home on 9 Nov., three days before it was due to open, but stayed only six days, as the Parliament was immediately prorogued. Both he and Stace set off again, probably on 8 Feb. 1454, and Honywood was once more at Westminster for the final session on 14 Mar. In January 1455 he claimed parliamentary wages of £10 10s. for a total of 99 days, divided between Reading and Westminster, interestingly seeking allowance of 2s. 8d. per day for his time at Reading and the standard wage while at Westminster.12 Ibid. ff. 153v, 163; H 1019, f. 14v.

The remainder of the decade saw Honywood frequently employed on extraordinary business, entertaining important visitors such as the New Romney lawyer, John Chenew*, and riding on Hythe’s business to New Romney, Canterbury, Dover and Ashford, offsetting his expenses against the payment of his maltolts. He also frequently lent small sums to meet communal costs and in October 1465 he made a loan of 20s. specifically for the parliamentary wages of John Lake†. By the early 1460s the commonalty owed him more than £6 for such payments.13 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1019, ff. 14v, 32v, 47v, 64, 78v, 104v, 121v, 146v, 147. Meanwhile, in February 1464 he had been chosen as bailiff of Hythe. His official duties must have been onerous as he sat in person in the town’s court (although he employed a deputy on at least one occasion) and attended all four meetings of the Brodhull during his term of office.14 Jurats’ ct. bk. H 1023, f. 196v; White and Black Bks. 49-52. On 19 May the following year, along with his brother and two other jurats, he was chosen to represent the Port at the coronation of Elizabeth Wydeville.15 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1019, f. 149.

Like his brother and many of his fellow townsmen, Thomas lent money to assist the earl of Warwick and duke of Clarence in 1469. While his brother was bailiff, in 1469-70, he also attended two meetings of the Brodhull. He continued to serve as a jurat throughout the troubled period of 1469-71 and appears to have followed many Portsmen in supporting Warwick during the Readeption of Henry VI. In 1470 he attended the court of Shepway held by the earl of Arundel and in the following spring lent money towards Queen Margaret’s return from exile and to help finance the forces of the Bastard Fauconberg. The liberties of the Cinque Ports were resumed by the Crown when Edward IV regained his throne, and Honywood was present with the other jurats when they met the King at Canterbury in May 1471 and contributed towards Hythe’s common fine and the costs of employing the Canterbury lawyer, Roger Brent†, to assist the recovery of their privileges. By the beginning of 1472 the debt owed to him by the commonalty stood at £4 4s. He emerged out of the chaos of 1471 with his reputation intact, however, and in between April 1472 and April 1473 he attended three meetings of the Brodhull and the warden’s court of Shepway.16 Ibid. H 1058, ff. 35v, 54, 73v; White and Black Bks. 58-59, 64-66.

Thomas was still serving as a jurat when he made his will on 1 Jan. 1474. He asked to be buried next to his brother in the chapel of St. Edmund in Hythe parish church and left bequests to works there and in the nearby churches of Saltwood, Postling, Boroughmarsh, West Hythe and Newington. Provision for his soul mirrored that made by his brother and he too left money to the inmates of St. Bartholomew’s hospital and asked for religious services in the chapel. In addition he asked that roads at ‘Dentall’ and Saltwood should be repaired. Honywood left a large family of five sons and two daughters, to whom he assigned gifts of cash and silverware, to be received either immediately after his death or when they reached full age or married. His will also detailed the division of his property in Hythe and the surrounding area. That at Lydd was to be sold by his executors and the proceeds given to the master and brethren of the Maison Dieu at Dover to pray for his soul. His son, Thomas, was to have the three acres of land upon the cliff at Saltwood; Robert was to have a messuage obtained from Alice Benjamin; John was to have the family’s property at Henewood in Postling, as well as the testator’s shops in Hythe; Richard buildings in Saltwood and Hythe upon the death of his mother; and William land in Cheriton, Saltwood and Hythe. Should all his sons die without issue, these holdings were to revert to his widow, Alice, and then to be disposed of by his executors and the proceeds spent on alms, the repair of roads and other works of charity. Probate was granted to his executors, his widow, John Gore of Elham and the local man William Waryn†, on the following 12 Feb.17 Canterbury consist. ct. wills, PRC 32/2, ff. 262-3. It is not clear by how long Thomas’s widow outlived him. On 27 Jan. 1474, just days after his death, she accounted for his maltolts and saw the debt owed to him by the commonalty reduced to a mere 6d. She was still alive in June the following year when a debt due to her and late husband was discharged and recorded in the jurats’ accounts, although there are no subsequent references to her.18 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1058, ff. 111, 115. Honywood’s son John, who was born around 1466, went on to serve as jurat of Hythe from 1501 and represented the Port in Parliament on two later occasions. According to a seventeenth-century visitation, John’s mother was Thomasina Lovelace of Kingsdown, but there is no mention of her in his father’s will or in the local records.19 Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. lxxiv), 65; (lxxv), 7, 104-5.