The Stately Homes of England

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt; S. C. Hall

Entrance Gate—from the Interior.

Philip Howard, so christened after Philip I., of Spain, one of his godfathers, was only son by his first wife, Mary, daughter of the Earl of Arundel, of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded for high treason in 1572. The title of Duke of Norfolk being lost by his attainder, Philip Howard did not enjoy it, but was Earl of Arundel and Surrey. He was also unjustly attainted, was tried for high treason, sentenced for execution, but ultimately died, during his imprisonment, in the Tower. This ill-fated young nobleman had married Anne, daughter and heiress of Lord Dacres of Gillesland, by whom he had an only child, born after he was cast into prison, and who succeeded him. This was Thomas Howard, the celebrated Earl of Arundel and Surrey (and afterwards Earl of Norfolk), whose brilliant career and high attainments are matters of history. His lordship, who is so well known as the founder of the collection of marbles, &c., married the Lady Alathea Talbot, daughter and one of the co-heiresses of Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, by whom he had issue, Henry Frederick, Lord Mowbray and Maltravers (who succeeded him), Sir William Howard, ancestor of the Earls of Stafford, and James, Thomas, Gilbert, and Charles, who all died unmarried.

Henry Frederick, the eldest son, who, during his father’s lifetime, had been called to the Upper House by the title of Baron Mowbray and Maltravers, married the Lady Elizabeth Stuart, eldest daughter of the Duke of Lennox, of the blood royal, for which, for a time, he incurred the displeasure of his Majesty, and, with his lady, was placed in confinement. He had issue, ten sons and three daughters. These sons were, Thomas, who succeeded him; Henry; Philip, who became a cardinal, and was variously styled Cardinal of Norfolk and Cardinal of England; Charles, who married Mary Tattershall and founded the Greystocke line; Talbot, Edward, and Francis, who died unmarried; Bernard, who married Catherine Tattershall; and two others.

Thomas Howard, who succeeded his father as Earl of Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk, &c., had restored to him, and to the heirs male of himself and his father, the dukedom of Norfolk and all the honours belonging to that title. He thus became fifth Duke of Norfolk, a title which has continued without further interruption till the present time. He died unmarried in 1677, when the title and estates passed to his brother Henry, sixth Duke of Norfolk, who had been previously created a peer by the title of Baron Howard of Castle Rising, Earl of Norwich, and Earl Marshal of England. He married, first, Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of the Marquis of Worcester, and by her had issue, two sons and three daughters; and secondly, Grace Bickerton, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. Dying in 1684, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Howard (who had been summoned to Parliament in his father’s lifetime as Baron Mowbray), as seventh Duke of Norfolk, who was one of the supporters of the Prince of Orange. He married the Lady Mary Mordaunt, daughter of the Earl of Peterborough, from whom he was divorced in 1700, but died without issue in 1701, when the title and estates passed to his nephew—

Thomas, eighth Duke of Norfolk, who married Mary, daughter of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, by whom he had no issue; and dying in 1732, was succeeded, as ninth Duke of Norfolk, by his brother Edward, who married, in 1727, Mary Blount, but died without issue in 1777, at the age of ninety-one. The titles and estates then passed to a distant member of the family, his third cousin, Charles Howard, of the Greystocke family, who thus became tenth Duke of Norfolk. He married Catherine, daughter of John Brocholes, Esq., and by her had issue, besides a daughter who died young, one son, Charles, who succeeded him, as eleventh Duke of Norfolk, in 1786.

The Keep.

This nobleman, who was the restorer, or rebuilder, of Arundel Castle—a man of considerable literary and scientific attainments—married, first, Mary Anne Copinger, and second, Frances Scudamore, but had no issue by either. He was succeeded by his relative, Bernard Edward Howard, as twelfth Duke of Norfolk, who, marrying the Lady Elizabeth Belasyse, daughter of Earl Faulconberg (from whom he was divorced), had an only son, Henry Charles, who succeeded him in 1842.

Henry Charles, thirteenth duke, who was born in 1791, married, in 1814, the Lady Charlotte Leveson Gower, daughter of the Duke of Sutherland (she is still living), by whom he had issue, Henry Granville, Earl of Surrey, who succeeded him; Lord Edward George Fitzalan Howard, of Glossop Hall, Derbyshire, created, 1869, “Baron Howard, of Glossop;” Lord Bernard Thomas; and the Ladies Mary Charlotte and Adeliza Matilda. His Grace died in 1856, and was succeeded as fourteenth duke by his eldest son, Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard (who had assumed, by royal sign-manual, in 1842, the surname of Fitzalan before that of Howard). He married, in 1839, Augusta Mary Minna Catherine, daughter of the first Baron Lyons (she still survives), by whom he had issue, two sons, viz., Henry Fitzalan-Howard, the present Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Edward Bernard Fitzalan-Howard; and seven daughters, viz., the Lady Victoria Alexandrina, born 1840, and married in 1861 to James Robert Hope-Scott, Esq., Q.C.; the Lady Minna Charlotte, born 1843; the Lady Mary Adeliza, born 1845; the Lady Ethelreda, born 1849; the Lady Philippa, born 1852; the Lady Anne, born 1857; and the Lady Margaret, born 1860. During the life of this nobleman, who was universally beloved and respected, her Majesty Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort paid a visit of three days to Arundel Castle, where the reception was kept up with regal magnificence. His Grace died in 1860, and was succeeded by his eldest son, then in his thirteenth year.

The present peer, his Grace Henry Fitzalan-Howard, fifteenth Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Norfolk, Baron Maltravers, Baron Fitzalan, Baron Clun, Baron Oswestry, Premier Duke and Earl next to the blood royal, Hereditary Earl Marshal, and Chief Butler of England, was born on the 27th of December, 1847, and attained his majority in 1868. His grace is unmarried. He is the patron of seven livings; but, “being a Roman Catholic, cannot present.”