Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howard, Henry Frederick
HOWARD, HENRY FREDERICK, third Earl of Arundel (1608–1652), born on 15 Aug. 1608, was second, but eldest surviving, son of Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel (1586–1646) [q. v.], by Lady Alathea Talbot, third daughter and coheiress of Gilbert, seventh earl of Shrewsbury. At the creation of Charles, prince of Wales, on 3 Nov. 1616, he was made K.B. (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 168). On 7 March 1626 he married Lady Elizabeth Stuart, eldest daughter of Esme, third duke of Lennox. The match was arranged without the knowledge of the king, who had designed the bride, his own ward and kinswoman, for Archibald, lord Lorne. The newly wedded couple were in consequence confined at Lambeth under the supervision of Archbishop Abbot. As Lord Maltravers, Howard was elected M.P. for Arundel, Sussex, in 1628. From 20 May 1633 until 31 Aug. 1639 he was joint lord-lieutenant of Northumberland and Westmoreland. On 17 Dec. 1633 he was appointed a commissioner to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England and Wales. On 10 Aug. 1634, having been previously elected M.P. for Callan in the Irish parliament, he became a privy councillor of Ireland. He was appointed a commissioner to try offenders on the borders on 30 Nov. 1635, joint lord-lieutenant of Surrey and Sussex on 2 June 1636, vice-admiral of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Isle of Ely on 3 Dec. in the same year, lieutenant to the earl-marshal of England on 10 Oct. 1638, joint lord-lieutenant of Cumberland on 31 Aug. 1639, and was again returned M.P. for Arundel in 1640. On 21 March 1640 he was called up to the House of Lords as Baron Mowbray and Maltravers. He voted against the bill for the attainder of Strafford, and maintained generally a strict adherence to the king (Walker, Historical Discourses, p. 219). In July 1641, at a parliamentary committee, a violent altercation arose between Howard and Philip Herbert, fourth earl of Pembroke [q. v.], ending in blows, when both were committed to the Tower (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–3, pp. 59, 62, 63). In 1642 Howard joined the king at York, and on 10 April of that year was made constable of Bristol Castle and keeper of Kingswood and Fillwood Forests. He was one of the peers who on the ensuing 13 June signed a declaration of loyalty which was printed and circulated throughout the kingdom (Clarendon, History, 1849, ii. 564–6). Howard was created M.A. of Oxford on 1 Nov. 1642, and was chosen joint commissioner for the defence of the county, city, and university on 24 April 1643, being appointed governor of Arundel Castle on 21 Dec. following. The illness of his father summoned him to Padua in 1645. He stayed with him until his death on 4 Oct. 1646, when he succeeded as third Earl of Arundel and earl-marshal of England. Returning home he found his estate in possession of the parliament, so that he subsisted with difficulty, until the commons, by a vote passed on 24 Nov. 1648, permitted him to compound for it for 6,000l. Arundel House in the Strand was used by the council of state as a garrison, though compensation was made to Howard (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1650, p. 405).
Howard died on 17 April 1652. By his wife he had nine sons and three daughters. His eldest son Thomas (1627–1677) was restored to the dukedom of Norfolk, 29 Dec. 1660. The second and third sons, Henry Howard (1628–1684), sixth duke of Norfolk, and Philip Thomas, cardinal, are separately noticed. Howard's portrait has been engraved by Lombart after the picture by Vandyck; there is also an engraving of him when Lord Mowbray, by Hollar, which was copied by Richardson; and another, with his autograph, by Thane.
Doyle's Official Baronage, i. 87–8; Collins's Peerage, 1812, i. 128–9; Clarendon's History, 1849, i. 263; Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, ii. 15.]