Person:Roger Honnyng (1)

Born circa 1564 - the same year as William SHAKESPEARE. Pictured in a falling lace collar; a singular close dress of broad black and white parallel stripes; a dagger, and a cord round his neck, the article dependent by which is concealed by his right hand; on a table before him a mariner's compass; a red cross on his shield, signifying death. As with his sister Jane, a separate portrait of Roger existed in 1856, in which he is holding a wheel-lock pistol; the object hanging from a red cord around his neck is a spanner for the wheel-lock; and above his shoulder, as if seen through a window, is a three-masted ship in full sail, with St George’s red cross flying on the maintop.

Roger is mentioned in his father’s will of 1566, but not in his mother’s of 1571.

1.   Barry, T. The Life and Family History of William Honnyng. (London, England: ISBN-13 978 0 9532685 3 5, 2008)
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