Richard Honyman

Sir Richard Bempdé Johnstone Honyman, 2nd Baronet (4 May 1787 – 23 February 1842)[1] was a Scottish official of the British East India Company who served for six years in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orkney and Shetland.

[2] Honyman's father Sir William had large landholdings in Orkney, where he had exerted significant influence on the parliamentary representation since the 1780s.

The Colonel had died of fever in Jamaica in 1808,[4] and when Sir William's negotiations secured the seat for his family again at the 1812 general election, Richard Honyman enjoyed the support of the outgoing Whig MP Malcolm Laing.

[5] The alliance faltered at the 1820 election, when objections were raised to the age of the 70-year-old Whig candidate John Balfour, and to the lack of consultation before his nomination.

[7] Richard Honyman is buried against the eastern outer wall of the southern section of St Cuthbert's churchyard in Edinburgh.