James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk

James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk, (10 February 1606/1607 – 7 January 1688), was grandson of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, and was also 3rd Baron Howard de Walden. He was succeeded in the earldom, a revival of an earlier title held by distant ancestors and re-created for his grandfather Thomas Howard, by two of his brothers. He acted as Earl Marshal for the coronation of Charles II.[1]

Succession to earldom and family

Howard succeeded aged 33 to the Suffolk earldom on the death of his father on 3 June 1640. The third Lord Suffolk married three times. On 1 December in the same year he married Lady Susan Rich, daughter of Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, and by her had a daughter, Lady Essex Howard. Susan died on 15 May 1649.

Lord Suffolk remarried about February 1650, Lady Barbara Wentworth, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers, knt., and widow of Hon. Richard Wenman and latterly Sir Richard Wentworth, knt. The second Lady Suffolk died on 13 December 1681, leaving a mutual daughter, his second child, Lady Elizabeth Howard, groom of the stool to the queen. After December 1681 and before 8 May 1682 Lord Suffolk married Lady Anne Montagu, eldest daughter of Robert Montagu, 3rd Earl of Manchester by whom he had no children.[2]

Howard was succeeded in his more senior title by his brothers; the barony Howard de Walden fell into abeyance for nearly a century, until it was called out of abeyance for a descendant of his elder daughter Lady Essex Howard, later Baroness Griffin. The title has since passed by virtue of his younger daughter Lady Elizabeth Howard, later Lady Elizabeth Felton to be called out of abeyance in 2004 in favour of Mary Hazel Caridwen Czernin, eldest daughter of the 9th Lord Griffin.

Land and buildings

Lord Suffolk owned central London property including Suffolk House and appears to have left his Jacobean house, Audley End, Essex built by the 1st Earl to the descendants of his elder daughter.

Notes

1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Suffolk, Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of s.v." . Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 26–27.
2. "Howard, James (1619-1688)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Suffolk	Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk 1640 – 1642 With: Sir Thomas Jermyn	English Interregnum
	Custos Rotulorum of Suffolk 1640 – 1642
Preceded by The Earl of Arundel and Surrey	Earl Marshal 1661 – 1662	Succeeded by In Commission
Honorary titles
English Interregnum	Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire 1660 – 1681	Succeeded by The Lord Alington
	Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Suffolk 1660 – 1681	Succeeded by The Earl of Arlington
Peerage of England
Preceded by Theophilus Howard	Earl of Suffolk 1640 – 1689	Succeeded by George Howard
	Baron Howard de Walden 1640 – 1689	Succeeded by John Griffin Whitwell