| Birth Date: | 19 December 1563 |
| Birth Place: | Audley End, Essex |
| Death Place: | Greystoke, Cumbria |
| Alma Mater: | University of Cambridge |
| Parents: | Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk Margaret Audley |
| Relations: | Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (brother) Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel (half-brother) Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley (grandfather) Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (grandfather) |
Lord William Howard (19 December 1563 - 7 October 1640) was an English nobleman and antiquary, sometimes known as "Belted Will" or "Bauld (bold) Will".
Howard was born on 19 December 1563 at Audley End, Essex, the fourth and last child of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife, Margaret Audley. His older siblings were Elizabeth, who died as a child, Thomas and Margaret. His maternal grandparents were Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden and his second wife Elizabeth Grey. His paternal grandparents were Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and his wife Frances de Vere. On his father's side, William had an older half-brother, Philip Howard, who was also William's second cousin (because Philip's mother, Mary FitzAlan and Margaret Audley were first cousins). After his mother's death in January 1564, William's father married, thirdly, Elizabeth (née Leyburne) Dacre (widow of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre and the eldest daughter of Sir James Leyburne of Cunswick).
William's father, a Roman Catholic with a Protestant education, was arrested in 1569 for being involved in intrigues against Queen Elizabeth I, mainly because of the Duke's intention to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. Although he was released in August 1570, a few months later he became involved in the Ridolfi plot to overthrow Elizabeth, install Mary of Scots on the English throne and restore Catholicism, and was arrested again in September 1571, when his participation in the plot was discovered. Norfolk was tried for high treason and then sentenced to death in January 1572; He was executed in June of that same year, when William was eight years old. After his father's death, William and his siblings Philip, Thomas and Margaret were left in the care of their uncle, Henry Howard, who also he took charge of their education. During this time, William and his siblings lived with their uncle at Audley End. [1] Due to his father's execution, much of his paternal family's property was forfeited, although William and his siblings, along with their older half-brother Philip were able to recover some of the forfeited estates.
His paternal grandparents were Lord Henry Howard, styled Earl of Surrey (the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk) and Lady Frances de Vere (third daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford and, his second wife, Elizabeth Trussell, daughter and heiress of Sir John Trussell).[1] After his grandfather's execution in 1547, his grandmother married Thomas Staynings of East Soham. His mother, the widow of Lord Henry Dudley (the youngest son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland), was the daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden and, his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey (third daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset).[1]
After his marriage in 1577, he went up to the University of Cambridge. Lord William was a learned and accomplished scholar, praised by William Camden, to whom he sent inscriptions and drawings from relics collected by him from the Roman wall, as "a singular lover of valuable antiquity and learned withal." Sir Walter Scott referred to him as "Belted Will" in the Lay of the Last Minstrel.[2]
Being suspected of treasonable intentions together with his half-brother, Philip, Earl of Arundel (husband of his sister-in-law Anne Dacre), he was imprisoned in 1583, 1585 and 1589. He joined the Church of Rome in 1584, both brothers being dispossessed by the queen of a portion of their Dacre estates, which were, however, restored in 1601 for a payment of £10,000.
Howard then took up residence with his children and grandchildren at Naworth Castle in Cumberland, restored the castle, improved the estate and established order in that part of the country. He collected a valuable library, of which most of the printed works remain at Naworth, though the manuscripts have been dispersed, a portion being now among the Arundel manuscripts in the College of Arms; he corresponded with James Ussher and was intimate with Camden, Sir Henry Spelman, and Sir Robert Cotton, whose eldest son married his daughter. In 1592, he published an edition of Florence of Worcester's Chronicon ex Chronicis, dedicated to Lord Burghley, and drew up a genealogy of his family.[3]
In 1603, on the accession of James I to the English throne, Howard was restored in blood. In 1618 he was made one of the commissioners for the Scotland/England border, and performed services in upholding the law and suppressing marauders.[4]
On 28 October 1577, he married his step-sister Elizabeth Dacre, third daughter of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre and the former Elizabeth Leyburne. She was also the sister and co-heiress of George Dacre, 5th Baron Dacre. After Elizabeth's father died, her mother married his father in 1566. Together, Elizabeth and William were the parents of:[1]
He died on 7 October 1640 at Greystoke, to which place he had been removed when failing in health, to escape the Scots who were threatening an advance on Naworth. His eldest son Philip was the grandfather of Charles, 1st Earl of Carlisle, and his second son Francis was the ancestor of the Howards of Corby.[5]
William Howard School, the secondary school in Brampton, Cumbria, is named after him.