Cecil Ralph Howard, 6th Earl of Wicklow (26 April 1842 – 24 July 1891) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and peer.

Biography

He was a younger son of Rev. Hon. Francis Howard, Vicar of

Swords, County Dublin Swords ( or ) in County Dublin, the county town of the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government area of Fingal, is a large suburban town on the east coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated ten kilometres north of D ...

, the son of

William Howard, 3rd Earl of Wicklow William Howard, 3rd Earl of Wicklow PC (I) (January 1761 – 27 September 1818), known as William Forward between 1780 and 1815, was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. Early life Howard was the second son of Ralph Howard, 1st Viscount Wicklow ...

, and his second wife Sarah Hamilton.''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage,'' 100th Edn, London, 1953. In 1864 he was commissioned as an Ensign in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1867 and to captain in 1876. After his elder brother succeeded to the earldom he was granted the style and precedence of the younger son of an earl by Royal Warrant in 1870. He retired from the regular army in 1877, but joined the Antrim Artillery Militia as a captain in 1879 and was later promoted to major in the Wicklow Artillery Militia on 23 February 1881. He retired on 8 August 1884.Maj E.B. Evans, ''An Outline of the History of The County Wicklow Regiment of Militia'', published by the Officers of the County Wicklow Militia, 1885, pp. 44–5.
/ref> He succeeded his brother, Charles Howard as Earl of Wicklow on 20 June 1881. On 23 January 1888, he was elected as an

Irish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords after the Kingdom of Ireland was brought into union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. No new members were added to the House after ...

and took his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was married twice, firstly on 23 March 1876 to Francesca Maria Chamberlayne (died 30 December 1877) by whom he had one son, and secondly, on 2 June 1880 to Fanny Catherine Wingfield, by whom he had two further sons, Cecil Mervyn Malcolm (18 November 1881 – 16 April 1882) and Hugh Melville (28 March 1883 – 17 February 1919). The 6th Earl died on 24 July 1891 and was succeeded by his eldest son from his first marriage, Ralph Howard (24 December 1877 – 11 October 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicklow, Cecil Ralph Howard, 6th Earl of 1842 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Cecil Irish representative peers King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Wicklow Militia officers 6