WILLIAM HERBERT, 3rd earl of Pembroke (158o-163o), son of the 2nd earl, was a conspicuous figure in the society of his time and at the court of James I. He was lord chamberlain of the royal household (1615 to 1625) and lord steward (1626 to 1630). He was chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1624 when Thomas Tesdale and Richard Wightwick refounded Broadgates Hall and named it Pembroke college in his honour. By some Shakespearian commentators Pembroke has been identified with the "Mr. W. H." referred to as "the onlie begetter" of Shake speare's sonnets in the dedication by Thomas Thorpe, the owner of the published ms., while his mistress, Mary Fitton (q.v.), has been identified with the "dark lady" of the sonnets. (See SHAKE SPEARE, WILLIAM.) He and his brother Philip are the "incom parable pair of brethren" to whom the first folio of Shakespeare is inscribed. The earl left no sons when he died in London on April io, 1630.
His brother, PHILIP HERBERT, the 4th earl (1584-165o), was for some years the chief favourite of James I. In 1605 the king created him earl of Montgomery and Baron Herbert of Shurland, and since 1630, when he succeeded to the earldom of Pembroke, the head of the Herbert family has carried the double title of earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Charles I., made him lord chamberlain in 1626 and frequently visited him at Wilton. He worked to bring about peace between the king and the Scots in 1639 and 1640, but when in the latter year the quarrel between Charles and the English parliament was renewed, he deserted the king who soon deprived him of his office of chamberlain. Trusted by the popular party, Pembroke was made governor of the Isle of Wight, and he was one of the representatives of the parliament on several occasions, notably during the negotiations at Uxbridge in 1645 and at Newport in 1648, and when the Scots surrendered Charles in 1647. In 1649, although a peer, he was elected and took
his seat in the House of Commons as member for Berkshire.
His eldest surviving son, PHILIP (1621-1669), became 5th earl of Pembroke, and 2nd earl of Montgomery; he was twice married, and was succeeded in turn by three of his sons, of whom THOMAS, the 8th earl (c. 1656-1733), was a person of note during the reigns of William III. and Anne.
His son HENRY, the 9th earl (c. 1689-1750), was a soldier, but was better known as the "architect earl." He was largely re sponsible for the erection of Westminster Bridge. The title descended directly to HENRY, loth earl (1734-1794), a soldier, who wrote the Method of Breaking Horses (1762) ; GEORGE AUGUSTUS, nth earl (1759-1827), an ambassador extraordinary to Vienna in 1807; and ROBERT HENRY, 12th earl (1791-1862), who died without issue. GEORGE ROBERT CHARLES, the 13th earl (1850-1895), was a grandson of the II th earl and a son of Baron Herbert of Lea (q.v.), whose second son SIDNEY 14th earl (1853-1913), inherited all the family titles at his brother's death. Sidney's son REGINALD HERBERT (b. 1880) succeeded his father as 15th earl in 1913.