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 Ralph Howard, 1st Viscount Wicklow PC (I) (29 August 1727 – 26 June 1789) was an Anglo-Irish politician and nobleman. Early life Ralph Howard was born on 29 August 1727 at Shelton Abbey, County Wicklow, the eldest son of seven children born ...

and his wife,

Alice Howard, 1st Countess of Wicklow Alice Howard, 1st Countess of Wicklow (died 7 March 1807), née Alice Forward, was an Anglo-Irish peeress. She was the daughter and heiress of William Forward of Castle Forward, County Donegal, by his wife Isabella Stewart. On 11 August 1755 sh ...

. In 1780 he took the surname of Forward after succeeding to the estates of his mother's family.

Career

Between 1783 and 1800 he served in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for St Johnstown. In 1793 was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. From 1800 to 1808 he was Treasurer of the Irish Post Office and from 1814 Governor of Wicklow. He reverted his surname to Howard after succeeding his brother,

Robert Howard, 2nd Earl of Wicklow The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, as Earl in 1815.

Personal life

On 31 March 1787, he married Eleanor Caulfeild, the only daughter of Hon.

Francis Caulfeild The Honourable Francis Caulfeild ( – November 1775), was an Irish politician who represented County Armagh and Charlemont. Early life Caulfeild was born in Chester in . He was the second surviving son of James Caulfeild, 3rd Viscount Charle ...

, MP. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William Howard.

References

Bibliography

* Murdoch, Tessa, ed., ''Great Irish Households: Inventories from the Long Eighteenth Century''. Cambridge: John Adamson, 2022 . See pp. 229–34 for a transcript of the inventory of furniture drawn up for the 3rd earl, recording the Georgian house at Shelton Abbey just before its remodelling by the 4th earl as a Gothic house with crenellated parapets. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wicklow, William Howard, 3rd Earl of 1761 births 1818 deaths

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies 3