Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/253

 Edition, with an Index,’ 1830, large 8vo. 62. ‘The House of Reform that Jack Built, and the Political Advertiser’ [1832], 8vo (several editions). 63. ‘The Year Book of Daily Recreation and Information, concerning Remarkable Men, Manners, Times, Seasons, Solemnities, &c.,’ 1832, 8vo (generally to be found with Nos. 56 and 57; the first editions of the four volumes are sought after; frequently reissued by Messrs. Tegg. A new edition of the three works was issued by the same publishers in 1874). 64. ‘The Early Life and Conversion of William Hone, by Himself, Edited by his Son, Wm. Hone,’ 1841, 8vo. 65. ‘Some Account of the Conversion of the late W. Hone, with further Particulars of his Life and Extracts from his Correspondence,’ 1853, sm. 8vo (frequently confounded with No. 64). 

HONEY, GEORGE (1822–1880), actor and vocalist, born 25 May 1822, made his first appearance in London at the Princess's Theatre, November 1848, as Pan in ‘Midas.’ He then joined the Pyne and Harrison company at Covent Garden, appearing in various operas, and played in 1860 at Her Majesty's in Macfarren's ‘Robin Hood.’ Quitting the lyric for the dramatic stage, he appeared at the Strand, 9 Oct. 1863, in ‘Miriam's Crime,’ in which he played a disreputable lawyer, and gave a good presentation of drunkenness. In September 1865 he played at the Royalty Turco the Terrible in William Brough's burlesque ‘Prince Amabel,’ and on 2 July 1866 at the Princess's was Annibal Locust, a bibulous sergeant, in the ‘Huguenot Captain’ of Watts Phillips. His performance of Eccles in Robertson's ‘Caste,’ Prince of Wales's, 6 April 1867, greatly raised his reputation. This was indeed a remarkable performance, a little too robust perhaps for its surroundings, but genuinely comic. In the opening performance of the Vaudeville, 16 April 1870, he was Major Buncombe in Andrew Halliday's ‘For Love or Money.’ Graves in ‘Money’ had been assumed by him at the Holborn in 1869 under Mr. Barry Sullivan. His impersonation attracted more attention on the revival of Lord Lytton's play at the Prince of Wales's, March 1872, and again in May 1875. Among his later creations the most successful was Cheviot Hill in Mr. W. S. Gilbert's ‘Engaged,’ Haymarket, 3 Oct. 1877. Honey also acted in America. He was a useful singer and a clever comedian, but was most successful in the presentation of eccentric and dissipated characters. Ill-health compelled his retirement in 1879, and after one or two unimportant appearances for benefits he died in London of aneurism of the heart 28 May 1880. He was buried in Highgate cemetery, where a medallion surmounts his grave. 

HONEY, LAURA (1816?–1843), actress, said to have been born 6 Dec. 1816, was daughter of Mrs. Young, an actress at Sadler's Wells, and occupied as a girl a position in connection with the wardrobe of that house. She first appeared on the stage there, under the name of Laura Bell, in some juvenile parts. In 1826 she was with her mother at the Olympic, and played in 1827 a midshipman in Bayle Bernard's ‘Casco Bay.’ After a brief engagement at the Surrey, where she took lessons in music, she returned in 1829 to Sadler's Wells. She married Mr. Honey, a youth connected with the law, from whom she soon separated. He lived on her earnings, and was drowned in the Thames in 1836. She went in 1832 with Mrs. Waylett to the Strand, where she first appeared in the ‘Loves of the Angels’ of Leman Rede. In 1833 she was at the Queen's, subsequently the Prince of Wales's Theatre, under Mrs. Nisbet. At the Adelphi under Yates she made a great success as Psyche with John Reeve in a burlesque called ‘Cupid,’ and as Lurline in the fairy drama of that name. After a season at the Haymarket and a tour in the country she went in turns to the St. James's, the Olympic under Madame Vestris, and other theatres, before she undertook the management of the City of London. She played Tom Tug in the ‘Waterman,’ Myrtilla in Planché's ‘Riquet with the Tuft,’ and in the ‘Spirit of the Rhine,’ by Morris Barnett, in which she sang with great effect ‘My beautiful Rhine,’ long popular. In the last season she played at the Haymarket, went into the country, and returned to the City of London. She died