Lord Audley, at his death in 1544, left two daughters, his co-heiresses; but the younger one dying in 1546, the eldest, Margaret Audley, became sole heiress to the estates. This lady was married twice: first, at the age of fourteen, to Lord Henry Dudley, younger brother to Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, by whom she had no issue; and secondly, in 1557, to Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, as his second wife. She thus, the daughter of one of the most aspiring men of the time, became allied to the two most powerful and ambitious families in the kingdom—those of Northumberland and Howard. By this second marriage, Margaret Audley (who died when only at the age of twenty-three) became the mother of two sons—Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards created Earl of Suffolk, of whom we shall speak presently, and Lord William Howard, ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle, &c.—and two daughters, Elizabeth, who died in her infancy, and Margaret, who became the wife of Robert Sackville, Earl of Dorset.
The Lodge.
The elder of these sons, Thomas Howard, inherited Audley End and the other family estates from his mother. Having, by Act of Parliament, 27th of Elizabeth, been restored in blood, he was, in 1588, knighted for his gallant behaviour in the engagement with the Spanish Armada, and in 1597 was created Baron Howard of Walden. “He was a brave sea officer, and successively employed upon many trying occasions, sometimes as chief, sometimes as second in command, during that reign, and in particular contributed greatly to the reduction of the town and castle of Cadiz.” In 1597 he was installed Knight of the Garter, and, according to some accounts, was made Constable of the Tower. On the accession of James I., Lord Howard was, in 1603, sworn a Privy Councillor, created Earl of Suffolk, and made one of the Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal. In 1608 he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, and in 1614 Lord High Treasurer of England. He it was who, with Lord Monteagle, made the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot while performing the routine business pertaining to his office of Lord High Chamberlain on the 4th of November, 1605.
The West Front.
Lord Suffolk was married twice: first, to Mary, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Lord Dacres of Gillesland, by whom he had no issue; and, secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Knevett, of Charlton, and widow of Richard, eldest son of Lord Rich, by whom he had four daughters—viz. Elizabeth, who married successively William Knolles, Earl of Banbury, and Edward, Lord Vaux; Frances, married first to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, from whom she was divorced, and next to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, Margaret; and Catherine, married to William Cecil, Earl of Salisbury—and eight sons, viz. Theophilus, who succeeded him; Sir Thomas, who was created Earl of Berkshire, and is the direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire—the earldom of Suffolk having reverted to this branch in 1733—whose descendants later on succeeded to the titles; Henry, who married Elizabeth Bassett, of Blore, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, who became successively the wife of Sir John Howard, of Swarkeston, in Derbyshire, and of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle; Sir Charles; Sir Robert, “a gallant cavalier soldier, was but too notorious in his own day for his intrigue with the Viscountess Purbeck, the beautiful and ill-assorted daughter of the Chief Justice Coke;” Sir William; Sir John; and Sir Edward, who was created Baron Howard of Escrick.
The first Earl of Suffolk built the magnificent mansion of Audley End, over which he is stated to have expended the enormous sum, for those days, of more than £190,000. It is said of him that although he had, from his many high and lucrative offices and his large estates, more ample means of displaying his magnificence than had any of his ancestors, he eclipsed them all in extravagance and show. His wife, Lady Suffolk, too, “was unfortunately a woman of a covetous mind, and having too great an ascendancy over her husband, used it in making him a party to her extortions on persons who had business to transact at the Treasury, or places to obtain at Court; and her husband was charged with embezzlement, deprived of his office, and fined £30,000, but which was reduced by the King to £7,000. He was generally considered to have been chiefly guilty in concealing the malpractices of his wife, who eventually died in debt and difficulty.” Probably one great reason for these things being laid to his charge was that, through having for a son-in-law the fallen and disgraced courtier Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, he had become obnoxious to the new favourite, Buckingham, through whose influence it appears he and his countess were, for a short time, committed to the Tower. He died at Suffolk House (where Suffolk Street, Strand, now stands), in 1626, and was buried at Walden. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Theophilus Howard (who during his father’s lifetime had been summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard of Walden) as second Earl of Suffolk. He was a Knight of the Garter, Lord Warden, Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover Castle, &c., and married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of the Earl of Dunbar, by whom he had issue four sons and five daughters, three of the sons becoming successively Earls of Suffolk.
He was succeeded by his son James (third Earl of Suffolk), who, like his father, for a time resided at Audley End in quiet retirement. The cost of the building had so greatly involved the first earl that, at the time of his committal to the Tower, he was about £40,000 in debt, although he had then but recently sold the Charter House to Mr. Sutton for £13,000, and his property at Aynhoe, in Northamptonshire, for a considerable sum. The charges thus entailed on the estate, and the cost of maintaining it, so affected his successors that they were unable to support an establishment commensurate with the size and magnificence of the house. After the Restoration, Earl James, therefore, gladly took the opportunity which offered of selling the park and mansion of Audley End to the King, Charles II.