Colonel Robert Honyman ( 1781 – 20 November 1808) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer from

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

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, who briefly held office as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orkney and Shetland. Honyman was born in about 1781, the oldest child of the lawyer William Honyman (later the

Lord of Session The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...

Lord Armadale) and his wife Mary, the daughter of

Lord Braxfield Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield (4 May 1722 – 30 May 1799) was a Scotland, Scottish advocate and judge. Life McQueen was born at Braxfield House near Lanark on 4 May 1722, son of John McQueen. He studied law at Edinburgh University and was a ...

. He served as

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in Reay’s Fencibles from 1794 to 1798, and was then on half-pay with the Yorkshire Fusiliers until 1802. He served as a volunteer during the

Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt The French invasion of Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a military expedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars. The campaign aimed to undermine British trade routes, expand French influence, and establish a ...

, where he impressed senior officers including Sir John Moore. He was brevet Lieutenant Colonel in 1802, and the following year was a major in the 93rd Foot, which he led in 1806 in the successful attack on the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

under Sir David Baird. He was severely wounded in the attack. In 1806 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 18th Foot. Later that year he returned to Orkney, where at the general election in December 1806 he was returned unopposed in his father's interest as MP for Orkney and Shetland. With his father's influence in Orkney facing a severe challenge, he served only one term, and did not contest the next election in June 1807. Like his uncle

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, who preceded him as MP, he was away on active service for much of his time in office, and there is no record of him having voted or spoken in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. In 1807 he was involved in the suppression of a mutiny of black troops in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, where he died of fever on 20 November 1808.

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* 1780s births 1808 deaths Military personnel from Orkney 93rd Regiment of Foot officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1806–1807 Robert II Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Orkney and Shetland Heirs apparent who never acceded Infectious disease deaths in Jamaica {{Scotland-UK-MP-stub