Title

CHARLES HOWARD, DUKE OF NORFOLK

This very illustrious family obtained the rank of peers (in 1459 temp. Henry VI. according to Beatson) in the person of sir John Howard, whose mother was Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas de Mowbray, duke of Norfolk; and in the rein of Richard III. the fame person was railed to the title of duke of Norfolk, 1483, which high honor they have now enjoyed 323 years; not indeed, without many recedes of fortune, but always in considerable splendor From this period they long made a great figure in our histories; but latterly, being excluded from a seat in parliament as Catholics, they lived more retired, till the accession of the present duke, who, having conformed,  has taken an active part in politics. In the battle of Bosworth field; in the wars with Scotland, temp. Henry VIII; in the annals of poetry and genius, by the means of the accomplished and amiable lord Surrey; in the pathetic story of Mary queen of Scots; and in the lively and descriptive pages of lord Clarendon, they constitute.     
     The prefect duke's father, descended from Charles Howard, of Greystock, in Cumberland, a younger grandson of Thomas, earl of Arundel, the collector, who died 1646, succeeded collaterally to the titles, in 1777, and died in 1785.
    His grace has been twice married, 1st, in 1767, to Marian, heiress of John Coppinger, esq. of Ballyvolane, in Ireland, who died the next year; and 2dly to Frances, daughter, and sole heir, of Charles Fitzroy Scudamore, by the repudiated duchess of Beaufort, who was heiress of James, viscount Scudamore, and who brought him a great estate, at Holm-Lacy, &c. in Herefordshire. But he has no issue by either marriage.
     His grace, when lord Surrey, sat in the House of Commons for the city of Carlisle; and was an active member her of parliament, on the side of the opposition, which was headed by Mr. Fox; a line of politics which he has since continued uniformly to pursue in the upper house. His conduct, as a member of the Whig Club, a Few years ago, gave great offence to government, who removed him from the command of one of the regiments of Yorkshire militia, and from the lord lieutenancy of one of the ridings of that county. The same conduct also exposed him to the animated and eloquent animadversions of Burke, in one of his last pamphlets.
     There is something very peculiar in his grace's person and habits, which is too well known to the world, to be dwelt upon here. His estates are large, independent of those of his duchess; and lie principally in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Norfolk, and Suffex.
     Female Descent,] Boys, Scales, Tendring Mowbray Molines, Tilney. Stafford, Vere, F'itzalan, Dacres, Talbot, Stuart, Tatterfhall, Aylward.
     Seats.] The favorite residence of his grace is at Arundel-castle, is Sussex, derived by a marriage of his ancestors, with the heiress of the Fitzalans, earls of Arundel, whose erldom is said to be conferred by the possession of this castle. The duke has been repairing it, in a kind of Gothic style, at a vast expense.  His other residences are Worksop, in Nottinghamshire derived in the time of James I. from an heiress of the Shrewsbury family; Greystock, in Cumberland, which came from the Daces; and Holm-Lacy, in Herefordshire, derived by his grace's second marriage from the Scadamores.
     Heir Presumptive.]  Bernard Edward Howard, descended from Bernard Howard, younger brother of Charles Howard, of Greystock, great grandfather of the duke. He married, 1789, lady Elizabeth Bellasis, daughter of the last earl of Fauconberg, by whom he had a, son, Henry Edward, born 1791, and from whom he was afterwards divorced, when he remarried the present earl of Lucan.
     Younger Branches.] The earls of Suffolk, Carlisle, and Effingham, with the Howards of Corby, in Cumberland, are all younger branches of this house; as were the extinct viscounts Bindon, earls of Northampton, Nottingham, and Stafford, and lords Howard of Escricke.

Biographical Peerage Of The Empire Of Great Britain