Sir William Honyman, 1st Baronet (December 1756 – 5 June 1835), also known by his judicial title Lord Armadale, was a Scottish landowner, and judge from Orkney.
On his lands in Sutherland he was one of the first landlords to evict tenants in order to create sheep farms, a process which grew to become the Highland Clearances.
[1] The family claimed maternal descent from Sir Robert Stewart, an illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland.
[3] As Sheriff, he was involved in the investigations into the political reformer Thomas Muir of Huntershill, interrogating potential witnesses for Muir's show trial on a charge of sedition before the Lord Justice Clerk (Scotland's most senior judge) Lord Braxfield,[4] who was also Honyman's father-in-law.
[7] In 1790 Honyman purchased lands at Strathy on the north coast of Sutherland from his maternal grandfather Captain John Mackay.
Honyman was one of the first landlords in the north of Scotland to recognise the higher returns available from sheep farming, and became one of the pioneers of the Highland Clearances in which the people were driven off their land.
[1][11] The two oldest sons joined the British Army, Patrick serving in the 28th Light Dragoons, and Robert becoming a Lieutenant colonel of the 18th Regiment of Foot.
[1] In 1820, John Wade's The Black Book: Or, Corruption Unmasked collated data on pensions paid out of the civil list of England and the heritable revenue of Scotland.