FOLK, EARLS AND DUKES OF.
The eldest of the cadet branches of the ducal house has its origin in William (c. 1510-1573), eldest son of the victor of Flod den by his second marriage. He survived the reign of Henry VIII., that perilous age for the Howards, with no worse misadventure than the conviction of himself and his wife of misprision of treason in concealing the offences of his niece, Queen Catherine. But both were pardoned. In I S53 he had the office of lord ad miral of England, and in the next year the Garter. For his services against Sir Thomas Wyat he was created (March i 1, '553) Lord Howard of Effingham, the title being taken from a Surrey manor granted him by Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth continued his employment in diplomacy, and had he been richer he might have had an earldom. His eldest son Charles, earl of Nottingham (q.v.) was lord admiral of England in 1585 and commander in chief against the Spanish Armada. Two of his sons succeeded in turn to the earldom of Nottingham, extinct on the death of Charles, the third earl in 1681. Sir William Howard of younger brother of the great admiral, carried on the Effingham line, his great-grandson succeeding to the barony on the extinction of the earldom. Francis, seventh Lord Howard of Effingham, was created earl of Effingham in 1731, a title extinct in 1816 with the fourth earl, but revived again in 1837 for the eleventh baron, who had served as a general officer in the Peninsular campaign, the great-grandfather of the present peer.
A patent of 1604 created Henry Howard (154o-1614), younger son of Surrey the poet, earl of Northampton, a peerage which ended with his death.
Thomas, son of the fourth duke of Norfolk's marriage with the daughter and heir of Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, founded the line of the present earls of Suffolk and Berkshire and of the extinct Lords Howard of Escrick. His barony of Howard of Walden has descended to his heirs general. Another son, Lord William Howard (q.v.) married in 1577 one of the three coheirs of the Lord Dacre of Gilsland. His great-grandson Charles How ard, was created, in 1661, earl of Carlisle (q.v.), Viscount Mor peth and Lord Dacre of Gilsland, titles which are still held by his descendants. From Sir Francis Howard, a cavalier colonel and a younger son of "bauld Willie," come the Howards of Corby Castle in Cumberland, a branch without a hereditary title.
William Howard, Viscount Stafford, was the fifth son of Thomas, earl of Arundel, and grandson of Philip the prisoner. Marrying the sister and heir of the fifth Lord Stafford, who died in 1637, he and his wife were created Baron and Baroness Stafford by a patent of 1640, with remainder, in default of heirs male, to heirs female. A grant of the precedence enjoyed by the bride's father being held illegal, her husband was in 164o created Viscount Stafford. Roger Stafford, heir of the ancient Staffords, had been forced to surrender his barony in 1639. The Viscount, accused by Titus Oates, was sent to the Tower in 1678 and beheaded in 1680. He was beatified in 1929. In i688 his widow was created countess of Stafford for life, and his eldest son, Henry, had the earldom of Stafford, with special remainder to his brothers. This earldom ended in 1762, but the attainder was reversed by an act of 1824 and in the following year Sir George Jerningham, the heir general, established his claim to the Stafford barony of 1640.