Family and Education

b. Dec. 1602?,1 8th but 5th surv. s. of Thomas Howard, 1st earl of Suffolk (d.1626) and his 2nd w. Catherine, da. and coh. of (Sir) Henry Knyvet† of Charlton, Wilts., wid. of Richard Rich of Rochford Hall, Essex; bro. of Henry*, Sir Robert*, Theophilus, Lord Howard de Walden*, Sir Thomas* and Sir William*.2 educ. travelled abroad 1620-3.3 m. 30 Nov. 1623, Mary (bur. 30 Jan. 1634), da. of Sir John Boteler, 1st bt.*, of Bramfield Place, Herts., 7s. (4 d.v.p.) 1da.4 KB 3 Nov. 1616;5 suc. to Escrick estate 1622; cr. Bar. Howard of Escrick 12 Apr. 1628. d. 24 Apr. 1675.6

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks. (E. Riding) 1623-at least 1650,7 Essex 1626-42,8 Saffron Walden, Essex 1634-at least 1638,9 Herts. 1648-at least 1650,10 Mdx. and Worcs. by 1650-1,11 Cumb. and Westmld. by 1650-2;12 commr. swans, all cos. 1629,13 oyer and terminer, Oxf. circ. 1642,14 London and Mdx. 1644-5;15 ld. lt. Worcs. 1642-at least 1644;16 commr. sewers, Essex and Cambs. 1642,17 Yorks. (E. Riding) 1654-67,18 Northern Assoc. E. Riding 1645, disposal of assets, Westminster Abbey 1645, appeals, Oxf. Univ. visitation 1647,19 militia, northern cos., Herts. and Yorks. 1648;20 assessment, Cumb. 1649-50, Herts. and Yorks. 1650,21 drainage, Fenland 1649; gov. Westminster sch. 1649;22 commr. propagating gospel, Northern cos. 1650.23

Jt. farmer of greenwax fines 1631-at least 1639;24 member, cttee. advance of money 1642,25 of Both Kingdoms 1643-8;26 commr. Admlty. 1643;27 member, Westminster Assembly 1643,28 commr. assessment for New Model army 1645, 1647; member, excise cttee. 1645;29 commr. abuses in heraldry 1646, exclusion from sacrament 1646, sale of bps.’ lands 1646;30 member, cttee. for compounding 1647, Navy cttee. 1647; commr. scandalous offences 1648,31 remove obstructions, sale of bps.’ lands 1648-9;32 member, cttee. for revenue, 1648,33 Council of State 1650.34

Biography

Howard was dubbed a knight of the Bath at Prince Charles’s creation as prince of Wales, no doubt at the behest of his father, then lord treasurer. In 1617 he was the recipient, along with his brothers Sir Robert and Sir William, of a grant of fines upon original writs in King’s Bench.35 Licensed for three years’ foreign travel in 1620, he may have been abroad when, under the terms of a family settlement, he inherited the Escrick estate in 1622 from Sir Thomas Knyvett’s* widow. In the following year he married advantageously to a niece of the royal favourite, Buckingham, the duke ‘professing that he will not only be an uncle but a father unto them’.36

Howard depended entirely on his family ties for his parliamentary seats. In 1624 he was elected at Wallingford on the interest of his brother-in-law, Viscount Wallingford (William Knollys†), and also at Calne, where his father apparently nominated him on the strength of the substantial Howard estates in north Wiltshire.37 He opted on 24 Feb. to represent the latter borough, but thereafter made little impression on the Commons’ proceedings. The four legislative committees to which he was named concerned the repression of drunkenness, duchy of Cornwall leases, the sale of the lands of lord treasurer Middlesex (Sir Lionel Cranfield*), and the alienation of York House, London to the duke of Buckingham (26 Feb., 9 Mar., 19 May).38 Returned again for Calne in 1625, he left no mark at all on the records of the first Caroline Parliament, and seems not to have stood in the next election. In 1628 he was elected unopposed at Hertford, doubtless through the influence of another brother-in-law, the 2nd earl of Salisbury (William Cecil*), from whom he also received an annuity. However, Howard once more failed to have any impact in the Commons, and was raised to the peerage on 12 Apr., taking his seat in the Lords two days later.39

According to Clarendon (Edward Hyde†), Howard owed his barony to Buckingham, but he withdrew from Court after the favourite’s assassination and gradually turned against the Crown.40 Having voted against supply in the Short Parliament, he opposed the king during the Civil War and, after the abolition of the House of Lords sat briefly in the Rump, until he was expelled for corruption in June 1651. Thereafter he withdrew from public life. Howard sold Escrick in 1668, and at the time of his death his main property was Tollesbury Hall, Essex. He died in April 1675, and was buried in the Savoy chapel in the Strand, London, at his own request. His younger son William represented Winchelsea in the 1660 Convention, but no subsequent members of the family sat in the Commons.41

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Authors: John. P. Ferris / Paul Hunneyball

Notes

• 1. Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, i. 178.
• 2. CP.
• 3. APC, 1619-21, p. 242.
• 4. CP; R.E.C. Waters, Genealog. Mems. of the Extinct Fam. of Chester of Chichely, i. 149-50; Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 2), v. 143.
• 5. Shaw, Knights of Eng. i. 159.
• 6. CP.
• 7. C231/4, f. 150; Names of JPs in Eng. and Wales ... 1650, p. 16.
• 8. C231/4, f. 206v; 231/5, p. 530.
• 9. C231/5, p. 134; C181/5, f. 117v.
• 10. C231/6, p. 125; Names of JPs, 26.
• 11. C193/13/3, ff. 40v, 67v; Names of JPs, 34, 50.
• 12. C193/13/3, ff. 11, 66v; 193/13/4, f. 15; C231/6, p. 245.
• 13. C181/3, f. 267v.
• 14. C181/5, f. 218v.
• 15. Ibid. ff. 230-1, 246v, 264v.
• 16. A. and O. i. 2, 507.
• 17. C181/5, f. 228.
• 18. C181/6, p. 46; 181/7, p. 406.
• 19. A. and O. i. 706, 804, 927.
• 20. Ibid. i. 1141, 1238, 1245.
• 21. Ibid. ii. 32, 295, 463, 465, 468.
• 22. Ibid. 139, 257.
• 23. Several Procs. in Parl. (23 Feb.-7 Mar. 1650), p. 312.
• 24. E401/2459; CSP Dom. 1638-9, p. 624.
• 25. CCAM, 1.
• 26. LJ, vi. 55b; CSP Dom. 1648-9, p. 90.
• 27. CJ, iii. 206b.
• 28. A. and O. i. 181.
• 29. Ibid. i. 657, 691, 1016.
• 30. Ibid. i. 839, 853, 905.
• 31. Ibid. 914, 1047, 1208.
• 32. Ibid. 1227; ii. 152.
• 33. LJ, x. 632b.
• 34. CSP Dom. 1650, p. 10.
• 35. C66/2092.
• 36. Chamberlain Letters, ii. 451, 533; C142/435/119; R. Lockyer, Buckingham, 69.
• 37. CP; King’s Coll. Lib. Camb., KCAR/1/2/16, vol. iv, no. 59; Wilts. N and Q, viii. 446-50.
• 38. CJ, i. 672b, 674b, 680a, 705b.
• 39. HALS, Hertford bor. recs., 23/17; L. Stone, ‘Electoral Influence of 2nd Earl of Salisbury’, EHR, lxxi. 393; Lords Procs. 1628, v. 216.
• 40. Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion ed. W.D. Macray, i. 392-3.
• 41. CSP Dom. 1640, p. 66; Waters, i. 149-50; VCH E. Riding, iii. 20; PROB 11/347, f. 259r-v.