Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk


Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk, 5th Earl of Berkshire, KG, PC, was a British politician, styled Viscount Andover from 1756 to 1757.
He was the son of William Howard, Viscount Andover and Lady Mary Finch, daughter of Heneage Finch, 2nd Earl of Aylesford.
Educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, he succeeded his grandfather as Earl of Suffolk in 1757. He was awarded a MA degree from Oxford in 1759 and a DCL degree in 1761. He was High Steward of Malmesbury from 1763 to 1767, and Deputy Earl Marshal from 1763 to 1765. On 25 May 1764, he married Hon. Maria Constantia Hampden-Trevor, daughter of Robert Hampden-Trevor, 1st Viscount Hampden, who died on 7 February 1767 giving birth to their only child:
  • Maria Constantia Howard
In 1771, he was appointed a Privy Counsellor and briefly served as Lord Privy Seal before becoming Secretary of State for the Northern Department under Lord North from 1771 to 1779. In this capacity, he secured the use of Hessian and Hanoverian mercenaries to help suppress the American Revolution. In the same capacity he helped to secure the survival of Sweden as an independent nation by counteracting Russia's plan to undo the Revolution of Gustavus III in 1772. During the 1770s he was associated with the Bedfordite faction as a member of the Bloomsbury Gang. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1778.
On 14 August 1777, Suffolk married his first cousin Lady Charlotte Finch, daughter of Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford and Lady Charlotte Seymour, by whom he had two children:
He died on 7 March 1779; his posthumous son Henry succeeded him for two days in August.
He is buried in Charlton Church, Wiltshire, together with his first wife.