Hon Edward Howard

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Howard,_15th_Earl_of_Arundel:

Hon. Edward Howard (1637–1691), married Anne Wilbraham, had issue. Edward's great-grandson Thomas Howard (1736–1824), a Quaker, renounced succession c. 1812; succession then passed to the issue of Hon. Bernard Howard of Glossop (below).

Edward Howard was admitted as Fellow of the Royal Society, November 26th, 1668.

Temptation of Thomas Howard, circa 1812

From the original by Bernard Howard.

Our Howard ancestry is easy to trace back as far as Stanley (or Standley) Howard (1676-1736) who was Thomas’s great grandfather, at this point the difficulties arise.

I am here interested in the speculation regarding Stanley provenance. There are four contenders that his ancestors have come up with.

Stanley Howard senior of Howard House, Berkshire (pedigree printed 1865)

Graveley Howard (from Luke Howard’s letter to Goethe)

Richard Howard, cordwainer, of London (College of Heralds’ letter in Brenan papers)

Edward Howard (1637-1691) sixth son of Frederick, 25th Earl of Arundel.

Charles 11th Duke of Norfolk was the last of his line, his first wife had died childless and his second wife declared insane within two months of their marriage, Being a protestant, with no direct heir, he was extremely anxious the title should pass to a protestant branch of the family.

Charles was descended from the third son of Frederick the 25th Earl of Arundel: the next claimant, Bernard Howard was descended from the seventh son of the said Frederick. Bernard was a catholic, son of an unsuccessful wine merchant and personally abhorrent to Duke Charles. In order to bypass this heir it was necessary to find another senior descendant of the 25 Earl of Arundel.

Charles as Earl Marshall of England would have easy access to all Norfolk records, and he must have known that the only son who could have sired such a descendant was Edward, the sixth son, an attainted rebel who fled to Ireland with James II. Having being outlawed his marriage and progeny would have been expunged from the College of Heralds. Such disinheritance could only be annulled by an act of Royal Clemency to reverse the Bill of Attainder, a proceeding that was followed by many catholic families whose ancestors has espoused the cause of James II.

Duke Charles search for a suitable protestant Howard to succeed him not only provides the motive for his unsuccessful ‘Temptation of Thomas’, but also to my mind at any rate supplies a highly probable solution of the problem of Stanley Howard’s parentage. Thomas Howard of Stockwell, 1736-1824, was the eldest son of Robert Howard of Folkestone, and therefore the senior grandson of Stanley.

Why should the Earl Marshall of England importune a respectable Quaker ironmonger, of the same name and whose seal bore the Norfolk crest, to establish his claim to the succession? Unless he had good reason to believe not only that he could show direct descent from the Norfolk line, but also that such claim could be established as senior to that of the undesirable Bernard, and therefore through Edward Howard, sixth son of the 25th Earl of Arundel.

I can only draw little glimpses of the ducal visits to Thomas by quoting one or two extracts from Henry S Howard’s manuscript. This story is formed not on mere family legends and mythology but on the records of two grandchildren who as little girls were actual eye witnesses of the events narrated therein. A great granddaughter, Lucy Styles (1841-1913) wrote in 1905:

‘My mother Caroline Matravers told me that when she was a little girl her grandfather came to live with them …The Duke considered that her grandfather was the rightful heir to the title and property …When she was about thirteen the Duke came to the house and tried to persuade him to enter a claim for title and property… He was however a staunch Friend or Quaker and refused to go against his principles by making any claim for the title or property.’

In 1878 another granddaughter, Emma Alexander (1802-82) wrote from Australia:

‘The old Duke of Norfolk left no effort untried to prevail on our grandfather to accede to his wishes. The Duke came again and again in his carriage and Scarlet, I remember seeing him - to fetch grandpapa and took him the Herald’s office. My grandfather was obstinate and did not wish the trouble of a ducal coronet, certainly unmindful of the great injustice he was doing to his descendants as his sons pressed on him. He would not accede to the Duke’s behest and the Duke died and with him died our just heritage, for it was then too late.’

John Eliot Howard who, however short tempered he may have been, was a careful, accurate scientist, and meticulously truthful, wrote from Lordship Lane in 1872:

‘The Duke nearly prevailed on T.H. to attempt to establish his succession, but Mrs H. was averse and the affair was discouraged by the Friends. I do now believe in the existence of Howard House and my conviction is that we spring from Henry Frederick the Earl of Arundel who had estates at Kingsdon, Somerset, and left several sons. I understand that the successful claimant of the Dukedom, Bernard 12th Duke, was much pleased to find the contemplated opposition withdrawn, and so succeeded without a contest. T.H. was a free and open Quaker (of Gracechurch Street Meeting), but Mrs H.

(a Leatham of Pontefract and a strict Friend), would not hear of her husband going in for establishing his genealogy as she would have accounted it perdition to do so!’

The Leatham’s were strict Friends from the Pontefract family. Thomas was more lax and worked in the city in industrial and commercial activities and in his generation would have been a “big noise in the city”. He founded the King and Queen Ironworks (subsequently opened by King George IV) in Rotherhithe and was fit and vigorous even in to old age.

His wife was the deciding factor and Thomas was obviously wavering somewhat, he even put a motion to the Friends in their meeting house, and the offer was also discussed by the family though Lucy does not mention it in her diaries.

A memorandum drawn up by Henry S Howard of Tintinhall Court, Yeovil, goes as follows.

It is headed “Memorandum on our Traditional Jacobite Descent.”

Our Earliest proved ancestor is Stan(d)ley Howard (born c 1676 died 1736). At the age of 24 he came from Dublin to be married to a Quaker girl (Sarah Whittingstall) when he also became a Quaker.

Traditions, originating from Stanley, say his father was of the “house of Howard”, a “devoted” roman catholic and an “adherent” of James II in Ireland, and that shortly after the Battle of the Boyne he “forfeited” his estate and soon afterwards either died or disappeared. This “forfeiture” suggests he may have been attainted for high treason.

About the year 1812, Charles 11th Duke of Norfolk, with the help of the College of Arms, sought out Stanley’s grandson the then representative of our family viz. Thomas Howard (1736-1824), a Quaker of about 76 years of age, and was very persistent in his attempts to persuade Thomas to establish his descent.

Circumstantial evidence seems to make it abundantly clear that the Duke knew from evidence in his possession that Edward Howard, who was the sixth son of Henry Frederick 25th Earl of Arundel, had a son named Stan(d)ley. Edward was the elder brother of Bernard Howard, whose line succeeded to the Dukedom on the death of the 11th Duke in 1815. It is evident therefore that the Duke was attempting to persuade Thomas to establish his right as heir presumptive to the Dukedom. Thomas eventually declined to accede to the Duke’s wishes fro reasons of conscience, the acceptance of honours or dignities being fundamentally contrary to Quaker principles (probably mainly due to his wife’s persuasion).

None of our family ever has had or, it is believed is ever likely to have the least desire to supplant the present ducal line; but many of us are very interested in proving that Stanley was Edward’s son and also discovering the identity of Edward’s wife and whether he was attainted for high treason.

Briefly the facts, in chronological order, known about Edward Howard are:-

C1637 He was born (Douay Diary Cath. Rec. Soc. Vol II)

1653 Entered as student at Douay College. (op.cit)

1664-5 Accompanied his elder brother Henry (later sixth Duke) to Vienna and the Near East (Howard papers pp 132-4).

1668 Elected Fellow of Royal Society. (5/11/1668) Proposers: Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk

(See: https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=((text)=%27Howard,%20Edward%27)&dsqPos=0)

1669 Admitted to Inner Temple.

C1673 A joint petitioner against his brother Henry in a family dispute concerning a settlement made in 1646/7 by his father, Henry Frederick 25th Earl of Arundel, settling the Greystoke Castle and other family estates as a provision for the Earl’s younger son. (House of Lords Journal, 12 p 631)

Mar 1674 He was appointed administrator with the will annexed of his mother’s estate. She (Elizabeth, dowager Countess of Arundel) had died the preceding January (P.C.C. Bunce, 32)

C1676 He married….daughter of… Wilbraham (Egerton manuscript, 1075, fol.37,v) (British Museum)

1676 He, jointly with his brothers, renewed his petition re the 1646/7 settlement. (House of Lords Journal, 13 p.80)

1677 He and his younger brother Bernard petitioned for a declaration of illegitimacy against the second family of his brother Henry.

(op.cit. 13 p.86)

1678 He again joined in renewing the petition on appeal to the House of Lords re. the 1646/7 settlement (op.cit. 13 p.143)

1679 He was given leave, as a papist, to come to London and Westminster “to take care of his Concerns in the Bill” then before the House of Lords i.e. The Duke of Norfolk’s Bill for the satisfaction and payment of his debts to his younger brothers and sister. (op.cit. 13 p.576). Edward was entitled to an annuity of £300 per annum charged on the Duke’s estates. (Op.cit. pp.572-4)

May 1682 A warrant to apprehend Edward and bring him and his brother Bernard before the Privy Council “as Popish Recusants convicted or indicted for Recusancy and having lately repaired to London and Westminster and the places adjacent” (Cal . State Papers, Domestic)

9 Jul 1689 A Bill for attainting several persons in rebellion in Ireland including Lord Thomas Howard “of Worksop”, nephew of Edward (Woods life and Times.3 p.305 and House of Lords Journal 14 p.278)

19 Aug It was agreed to leave out of the Bill Lord Thomas Howard and six others. The Bill was read a third time and passed. (House of Lords Journal 14 p.316).

27 Dec 1690 A Bill for attainting several persons in Ireland and England and for applying their estates towards the charge of war. (op.cit. 14 p.607).

15 Jun 1691 “The Honourable Edward Howard Esq….was buried at Arundel. (Parish Reg. St Nicholas, Arundel).

The various authors of “Peerages” and also the authors of many books on the Howard Families almost ignore the existence of Edward. None of them (with the exception of H.K.Causton in a pedigree chart in the Howard Papers) mentions his marriage.

Canon Tierney, who was chaplain and archivist at Arundel Castle from 1825 until his death in 1862, also makes but a passing reference in his History of Arundel. Although he records the burials of all the other Howards at Arundel, he omits to mention that of Edward only, nor does he mention that Edward, alone of his brothers, accompanied Henry on his journey to the Near East in 1663-4.

Query. Who was Edward’s wife, nee Wilbraham? None of the Wilbraham printed pedigrees throws any light on the subject. There is reason to believe that Edward may have married one of the Wilbraham family settled in Dublin during the second half of the seventeenth century. There seems to have been a branch of that family of Reys Heath Hall, Worleston near Nantwich, co, Chester (Visitation of Cheshire 1580. Harl. Soc. 18 p.250. Visitation of London 1634. Harl. Soc. 17 p. 531. Omerod’s History of Cheshire 3 pp.191, 231.)

Query. Visitation of Cheshire 1663 the MS of which is in the College of Arms and has not been examined. The marriage would certainly have been solemnised according to Roman Catholic rites and done secretly. No public record is likely to exist.

Query. Had Edward been attainted for high treason as an adherent of James II in Ireland?

From: Notes and Queries, May 24, 1941

EDWARD HOWARD (ca. 1637-1691): n WILBRAHAM (See clxxvii. 10).—I am now able to add further details under paras. (7), (9), (10) and (11) of the originating queries: —

(7) 30 Mar. 1674. Letters of Administration with the Will annexed of Elizabeth Dowager Countess of Arundel and Surrey (who d. 28 Jan. 1673/4) were granted to her son, Edward Howard, as sole residuary legatee. (P.C.C. Bunce. 32.) Her Will is dated 3 Nov. 1673. She made specific bequests to all her other children and grandchildren then living.

Query. Where was she buried? Tierney (' History of Arundel') does not record this as being at Arundel where her husband, the 25th Earl, was buried.

1682. Answer to a Petition by E. H. for payment of a debt due to him as administrator of 'his mother's estate. (Chanc. ' Proc. C. 6. 242/60. P.R.O.)

1682, May 4. " Note of a Warrant to apprehend and bring before his Majesty and the Privy Council (among others) .Edward and Bernard Howard as Popish Recusants convicted or indicted for Recusancy and having lately repaired to London and the places adjacent." (Cal. S.P.D.)

From this date (1682) until his death (ca. June 1691)—nine years—biographical details of E. H. (including his marriage to Wilbraham and the birth of' issue) seem to have passed into oblivion. There is reason, to think that he may have sought asylum in Ireland.