Thomas Honywood – Horsham’s forgotten hero?

Ask most people in Horsham ‘who was Thomas Honywood?’ and very few will have heard of him!

Yet this extraordinary man introduced photography to Horsham and even created a new photographic process.

In his role as an archaeologist, he also discovered the historic Horsham Hoard and was Captain of the Horsham Volunteer Fire Brigade.

Not a bad CV for any one person!

Honywood was born in Horsham on October 7 1819 and he quickly grew an affinity to his home town.

Honywood grew a passion for photography which was still in its infancy and he was a main figure in bringing the art to Horsham.

He even invented a photo-chemical process that allowed him to transfer natural objects, such as ice crystals or leaves, on to paper.

He had a stand at the prestigious International Inventions Exhibition in 1885 showcasing this ‘Nature Printing’.

He also had a great interest in archaeology and uncovered many artefacts that shed light on the district’s ancient history.

In his role as a property developer he helped improve the quality of shops in West Street and while doing so discovered the incredibly important Horsham Hoard of medieval pottery.

Honywood was keen to improve his home town and set up the town’s volunteer fire brigade, which lasted until 1911. The brigade had its own distinctive uniform of brass and silver helmets as well as its own hand drawn/horse drawn fire engine. Horsham’s volunteer fire brigade inspired other towns to follow suit.

This remarkable man loved collecting and in 1887, a year before he died, he held a sale of his goods at his Horsham home. The auction had a wide array of incredible goods, including remarkable furniture, paintings and even stuffed birds.

Quite rightly Horsham Museum has numerous examples of Honeywood’s work, including examples of the ‘Nature Printing’, a portrait, and, of course, the Horsham Hoard.

So maybe the name Thomas Honywood should be more widely known?