HONYWOOD, Frazer (d.1764), of Mailing, Kent

Honywood was a wealthy banker, in partnership with Richard Fuller. He dabbled extensively in Government loans, subscribing to them and selling shortly after.

He was unsuccessful candidate at the Shaftesbury by-election of 1747. In 1750 Sir Hugh Smithson, M.P. for Middlesex, who had just succeeded as Earl of Northumberland, recommended him ‘as a proper person to stand for the county ... he has a very good estate, and is a very active zealous Whig’.Bedford mss. He was defeated, and does not appear to have stood again until 1759 when he was returned unopposed at Steyning. In 1761 he was returned again after a contest in which he headed the poll. Bute’s list of 1762 classes him ‘contra’ with the additional comment: ‘once Newcastle, now discontented with his Grace’; nevertheless he continued in opposition until his death.

There is no record of his having spoken in the House. He died 27 Jan. 1764.