It must suffice here to chronicle the remaining more important facts in Dr Howe’s life, outside his regular work. In 1843 he married Julia Ward (see above), daughter of a New York banker, and they made a prolonged European trip, on which Dr Howe spent much time in visiting those public institutions which carried out the objects specially interesting to him. In Rome, in 1844, his eldest daughter, Julia Romana (afterwards the wife of Michael Anagnos, Dr Howe’s assistant and successor), was born, and in September the travellers returned to America, and Dr Howe resumed his activities. In 1846 he became interested in the condition and treatment of idiots, and particularly in the experiments of Dr Guggenbühl on the cretins of Switzerland. He became chairman of a state commission of inquiry into the number and condition of idiots in Massachusetts, and the report of this commission, presented in 1848, caused a profound sensation. An appropriation of $2500 per annum was made for training ten idiot children under Dr Howe’s supervision, and by degrees the value of his School for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youths, which, starting in South Boston, was in 1890 removed to Waltham, was generally appreciated. It was the first of its kind in the United States. An enthusiastic humanitarian on all subjects, Dr Howe was an ardent abolitionist and a member of the Free Soil party, and had played a leading part at Boston in the movements which culminated in the Civil War. When it broke out he was an active member of the sanitary commission. In 1871 he was sent to Santo Domingo as a member of the commission appointed by President Grant to examine the condition of the island, the government of which desired annexation; and when that scheme was defeated through Sumner’s opposition he returned (1872) as the representative of the Samana Bay Company, which proposed to take a lease of the Samana peninsula; but though in 1874 he revisited the island, it was only to see the flag of the company hauled down. His health was then breaking and began soon after to fail rapidly, and on the 9th of January 1876 he died at Boston. The governor of the state sent a special message of grief to the legislature on his death, eulogies were delivered in the two houses, and a public memorial service was held, at which Dr O. W. Holmes read a poem. Whittier had in his lifetime commemorated him in his poem “The Hero,” in which he called him “the Cadmus of the blind”; and in 1901 a centennial celebration of his birth was held at Boston, at which, among other notable tributes, Senator Hoar spoke of Howe as “one of the great figures of American history.”
A Memoir of Dr Howe by his wife appeared in 1876. See also the Letters and Journals of S. G. Howe, edited by Laura E. Richards (1910). (H. Ch.)
HOWE, WILLIAM HOWE, 5th Viscount (1729–1814),
British general, was the younger brother of George Augustus,
3rd viscount, killed in the Ticonderoga expedition of 1758, and
of Richard, 4th viscount and afterwards Earl Howe, the admiral.
He entered the cavalry in 1746, becoming lieutenant a year later.
On the disbanding of his regiment in 1749 he was made captain-lieutenant
and shortly afterwards captain in Lord Bury’s (20th)
regiment, in which Wolfe was then a field officer. Howe became
major in 1756 and lieutenant-colonel in 1757 of the 58th (now
Northampton) regiment, which he commanded at the capture
of Louisburg. In Wolfe’s expedition to Quebec he distinguished
himself greatly at the head of a composite light battalion. He
led the advanced party in the landing at Wolfe’s Cove and took
part in the battle of the Plains of Abraham which followed. He
commanded his own regiment in the defence of Quebec in 1759–1760,
led a brigade in the advance on Montreal and took part on
his return to Europe in the siege of Belleisle (1761). He was
adjutant-general of the force which besieged and took Havana in
1762, and at the close of the war had acquired the reputation of
being one of the most brilliant of the junior officers of the army.
He was made colonel of the 46th foot in 1764 and lieutenant-governor
of the Isle of Wight four years later. From 1758 to 1780
he was M.P. for Nottingham. In 1772 he became major-general,
and in 1774 he was entrusted with the training of light infantry
companies on a new system, the training-ground being Salisbury Plain.
Shortly after this he was sent out to North America. He did not agree with the policy of the government towards the colonists, and regretted in particular that he was sent to Boston, where the memory of his eldest brother was still cherished by the inhabitants, and General Gage, in whom he had no confidence, commanded in chief. He was the senior officer after Gage, and led the troops actively engaged in the storming of Bunker Hill, he himself being in the thickest of the fighting. In the same year Howe was made a K.B. and a lieutenant-general, and appointed, with the local rank of general, to the chief command in the seat of war. For the events of his command see American War of Independence. He retained it until May 1778—on the whole with success. The cause of his resignation was his feeling that the home government had not afforded the proper support, and after his return to England, he and his brother engaged in a heated but fruitless controversy with the ministers. Howe’s own defence is embodied in Narrative of Sir William Howe before a Committee of the House of Commons (London, 1780). In 1782 Howe was made lieutenant-general of the ordnance; in 1790 he was placed in command of the forces organized for action against Spain, and in 1793 he was made a full general. He held various home commands in the early part of the French revolutionary war, in particular that of the eastern district at the critical moment when the French established their forces on the Dutch coast. When Earl Howe died in 1799, Sir William succeeded to the Irish viscounty. He had been made governor of Berwick-on-Tweed in 1795, and in 1805 he became governor of Plymouth, where he died on the 12th of July 1814. With his death the Irish peerage became extinct.
HOWEL DDA (“the Good”) (d. 950), prince of Deheubarth
(South Central Wales) from before 915, and king of Wales from
943 to 950, was the grandson of Rhodri Mawr (the Great), who
had united practically the whole of Wales under his supremacy.
As Idwal Voel succeeded his father Anarawd, the elder son of
Rhodri, as lord of Gwynedd in 915, so Howel at some time before
that date succeeded Rhodri’s younger son Cadell as prince of
Deheubarth. Howel married Elen, daughter of the last king of
Dyfed, and also added Kidweli and Gwyr to his dominions, while
on the death of Idwal, who was slain by the English in 943, he
took possession of Gwynedd. Both these princes had done
homage to the English kings, Edward the Elder and Aethelstan,
in 922 and 926, and we find that Howel attended the witans
of the English kingdom and witnessed about ten charters between
the years 931 and 949. He was secure, therefore, from attack on
the eastern side of his kingdom, and it is not certain whether he
was engaged in any of the battles recorded during these years in
Wales, either in Môn 914, at Dinas Newydd 919 or at Brun 935.
To the peaceful character of his reign is probably due the high
place which he holds among the Welsh princes. From 943 to
950 Howel Dda was probably ruler of all Wales except Powys
(apparently dependent on Mercia), Brecheiniog, Buallt, Gwent
and Morgannwg. With Morgan Hen, king of Morgannwg,
Howel had a dispute which was eventually settled in favour of the
former at the court of the English king. Howel died in 950, and
such unity as he had preserved at once disappeared in a war
between his sons and those of Idwal Voel. The code of laws
attributed to this prince is perhaps his chief claim to fame. He
is said to have summoned four men from each cantref in his
dominions to the Ty Gwyn (perhaps Whitland in Caermarthenshire)
to codify existing custom. Three codes, accordingly called
Venedotian, Demetian and Gwentian, are said to have been written
down by Bleggwryd, archdeacon of Llandaff (see Welsh Laws).
See Sir John Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, The Welsh People (London, 1900); and Aneurin Owen, Ancient Laws and Institutions of Wales (London, 1841).
HOWELL, JAMES (c. 1594–1666), British author, who came of an old Welsh family, was born probably at Abernant, in Carmarthenshire, where his father was rector. From the free grammar school at Hereford he went to Jesus College, Oxford, and took his degree of B.A. in 1613. About 1616 he was steward in Sir Robert Mansell’s glass-works in Broad Street, and was commissioned to go abroad to procure the services of expert
