HOWARD, Frederick John (1814-1897), of Burlington Gardens, London, Mdx.

Howard’s Whig pedigree was impeccable. A nephew of Frederick Howard, 6^th earl of Carlisle, his mother was the sister of the Whig statesman John Lambton, 1^st earl of Durham. He was also related to the duke of Norfolk.1The Times, 2 Mar. 1897. The only surviving son of Major the Hon. Frederick Howard, who perished at the Battle of Waterloo, his mother soon afterwards married General the Hon. Henry Frederick Compton Cavendish, the son of the 1^st earl of Burlington and a nephew of the 5^th duke of Devonshire.

It seems likely that Howard owed his candidacy for Youghal to the intervention of his cousin George Howard (Lord Morpeth), then Irish Chief Secretary, who overrode the claim of William George Cavendish, a kinsman of the duke of Devonshire. Four weeks before the election Howard married Lady Fanny Cavendish, the sister of William Cavendish, 2^nd earl of Burlington, who, in 1858, was to succeed his cousin as 7^th duke of Devonshire.2HP Commons 1820-32: ‘Cavendish, William’. In spite of his connections, Howard very nearly lost the election to a Conservative.3A. Barry & K.T. Hoppen, ‘Borough Politics in O’Connellite Ireland: The Youghal Poll Books of 1835 and 1837’, Journal of the Cork Archaeological & Historical Society, 83 (1978), 106-46 [114]. With no political experience, and ‘in rather delicate health’, his campaign was further undermined by Devonshire’s legal agent, whose seemed intent upon alienating the town’s repealers. Howard’s election was secured largely by the appointment of Frederick Curry (the son of Devonshire’s land agent) as his political agent.4HP Commons, 1832-68: ‘Youghal’; Freeman’s Journal, 24 Aug. 1837; L.J. Proudfoot, ‘Landlords and politics: Youghal and Dungarvan in the 1830s’, Decies: Journal of the Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society, 34 (1987), 35-47 [44-5]. As a champion of ‘civil and religious liberty’, he exemplified an approach that has been termed ‘liberal Anglican’. He was committed to upholding the rights of Catholics and dissenters against the established church, and supported parliamentary inquiries into church leases, and the appropriation of Irish tithes. In economic matters, however, Howard was a Whig. While he supported the reduction of foreign sugar duties in 1838, he was not a dogmatic ‘liberal’ free-trader.5B. Hilton, ‘Whiggery, Religion and Social Reform: The Case of Lord Morpeth, HJ, 37:4 (1994), 829-59 [831-3]. On other matters, Howard held ‘trenchantly expressed but nebulously defined notions of generalized reform’ and presented petitions on slave apprenticeship (1838) and the suppression of the opium trade in China (1840).6Barry & Hoppen, ‘Borough Politics in O’Connellite Ireland’, 115; Mirror of Parliament, 8 Mar. 1838, vol. iv (1837-8), 2514; 12 May 1840, vol. iv (1840), 2966. With regard to constitutional matters, Howard had informed the independent electors of Youghal, ‘I am no Radical’, and pledged to oppose any changes to the status of the House of Lords.7Freeman’s Journal, 24 Aug 1837. Howard is not known to have spoken in the Commons, and served on only two minor committees.8On the Leicester borough election and the Tralee navigation and harbour bill: Mirror of Parliament, vol. v (1837-8), 3409; vol. iii (1841), 2190. He remained a firm supporter of the Melbourne administration and consistently supported the ministry in divisions. Howard actively supported the drive to register Liberal voters in Ireland, and proved willing to co-operate with Daniel O’Connell in seeking government patronage for local traders who had suffered in the service of the Liberal interest.9Freeman’s Journal, 24 Aug. 1837, 1 Jan 1840; Daniel O’Connell to Thomas Drummond, 8 Apr. 1839: M. O’Connell, O’Connell Correspondence, vi. 231. For the issue of ‘selective trading’ in Youghal, see HP Commons, 1832-68: ‘Youghal’. Having apparently tired of politics, Howard retired at the 1841 general election and was succeeded by his step-father’s brother, Charles Compton Cavendish.10HP Commons 1820-32: ‘Cavendish, Charles Compton’.

Howard served as private secretary to Morpeth, when 7^th earl of Carlisle, during his administrations as viceroy of Ireland in 1855-8 and 1859-64.11See C. Lascelles, Extracts from journals kept by George Howard, earl of Carlisle: selected by his sister (1864), 212. In 1869, his eldest daughter Louisa married Cecil Foljambe, 1^st earl of Liverpool. His second daughter married the Hon Frederick Ponsonby, the son of Charles Ponsonby, 2^nd baron de Mauley of Canford in 1877. Howard died in 1897 at Angus-house, Eastbourne and was buried at Ensor Church-yard, Chatsworth-park.12The Times, 2 Mar. 1897. He was succeeded by his son William Frederick Howard (1838-1918), who played no role in national politics.