The purchase-money of this estate (which, as already stated, in building alone had cost £190,000) was £50,000, of which but £30,000 was paid by the King, the remaining £20,000 being left on mortgage. This was in 1666, and in 1670 the Court was regularly established at Audley End; the Queen very frequently resided there; and, being convenient for Newmarket, festivities were kept up on a large scale.
After the sale of the house, the Earl of Suffolk and his successor, the fourth earl, resided in comparative retirement, Audley End being, by the King, “committed to the charge of one of the family, who held the office of housekeeper and keeper of the wardrobe, with a salary; and this arrangement continued till 1701, when the house and park were reconveyed” back to the Suffolk family. The £20,000 left on mortgage continued unpaid by the King at the revolution of 1688, “nor is it clear that any interest had ever been paid upon it” during the many years it had remained. In 1701, therefore, the demesne was, as just stated, conveyed back to the Howards, the fifth Earl of Suffolk, on receiving it, relinquishing his claim on the Crown for the debt.
East Front, from the Garden.
James, the third Earl of Suffolk, already spoken of, married, first, Susan, daughter of the Earl of Holland, by whom he had an only daughter, Essex, married to Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke; secondly, Barbara, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and widow of Sir Richard Wenman, by whom he had a daughter, who became the wife of Sir Thomas Felton; and, thirdly, to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Manchester, by whom he had no issue. Dying in 1688, he was succeeded by his brother, George Howard, as fourth earl, who enjoyed the title only three years; when, dying without surviving male issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Henry Howard, as fifth earl. This nobleman married twice: first, Mary, daughter of Lord Castle Stewart, by whom (besides a daughter) he had three sons—Henry, Edward, and Charles—who each successively became Earl of Suffolk; and, secondly, the widow of Sir John Maynard, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1709, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Howard, created in his father’s lifetime Baron Chesterford and Earl of Bindon, who was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles William, as seventh Earl of Suffolk, and second Earl of Bindon and Baron of Chesterford. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Astrey, but had no issue; and, dying in 1721-2, the titles of Baron of Bindon and Earl of Chesterford became extinct, while those of Earl of Suffolk and Baron Howard of Walden passed to his father’s brother Edward, and, at his death, to his brother Charles, as ninth earl. He dying in 1733, left one only son, Henry Howard, who thus became tenth Earl of Suffolk. This tenth earl married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Irwin, but died without issue in 1745, his widow afterwards becoming the wife of Viscount Falkland.
On the death of the tenth earl, the title of Earl of Suffolk, &c., passed to his distant relative, Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire, Viscount Andover, &c., who, descended from Sir Thomas Howard, second son of the first Earl of Suffolk, was direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, the barony of Howard de Walden remaining in abeyance between the descendants of the two co-heiresses of the third earl.
These were, as already shown, Essex, wife of Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Felton. The representatives of the elder of these were the Hon. Elizabeth Griffin, married, first, to Henry Neville Grey, and, secondly, to the Earl of Portsmouth; and her sister, Ann, wife of William Whitwell. Lady Portsmouth having no issue by either of her husbands, the real descent lay with the son of Mrs. Whitwell, in whose favour the abeyance terminated, and who thus became Lord Howard of Walden. The possession of the Audley End estates was disputed by Thomas Howard, second Earl of Effingham, who claimed under a settlement in his favour, made by the seventh Earl of Suffolk, who, however, having been proved to have himself only been a tenant for life, the claim was disallowed, and the estates passed to Lady Portsmouth, from whom, by bequest, they ultimately came to John Griffin Whitwell, Lord Howard of Walden.
This nobleman was created Baron Braybrooke in 1788, with remainder to his relative, Richard Neville, whose father, Richard Aldworth, was maternally descended from the Nevilles; and, dying without issue, the title of Lord Howard of Walden passed to a distant descendant of that family. He was succeeded, as second Baron Braybrooke, in 1797, by this Richard Neville, who assumed the name of Griffin. He married, in 1780, Catherine, daughter of the Right Hon. George Grenville, who was maternally descended from Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, and sister of the first Marquis of Buckingham, and had by her, besides other issue, the Hon. Richard, who succeeded him, and who, by arrangement with the deceased peer’s only sister and heiress (wife of the Rev. Dr. Parker), obtained immediate possession of the mansion and unentailed portion of the estate, the other portion coming to him at the death, without issue, of that lady.