Sir Henry Howard (11 August 1843 – 4 May 1921) was a British diplomat who was the first formal British envoy to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

for over 300 years.

Biography

Henry Howard was the elder son of Sir

Henry Francis Howard Sir Henry Francis Howard (3 November 1809 – 28 January 1898) was a British diplomat who was envoy to several countries. Career Howard entered the Diplomatic Service in 1828. He was Secretary of the British legation at The Hague 1845–184 ...

, also a British diplomat and ambassador, through whom he was a descendant of Lord William Howard, younger son of

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, ( Kenninghall, Norfolk, 10 March 1536Tower Hill, London, 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although from a family with strong Roman Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was ...

. He was a member of the

Howard family The House of Howard is an English noble house founded by John Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk (third creation) by King Richard III of England in 1483. However, John was also the eldest grandson (although maternal) of the 1st Duke of the ...

, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, and was educated at Downside School.British Mission to the Pope, ''The Times'', 12 December 1914, page 9 He joined the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

as an attaché to the Legation in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1865. He was promoted to Third Secretary in 1869 and to Second Secretary in 1873. While in Washington he was Her Majesty's Agent for British claims under the

Treaty of Washington (1871) The Treaty of Washington was a treaty signed and ratified by the United Kingdom and the United States in 1871 during the first premiership of William Gladstone and the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. It settled various disputes between the countr ...

. For this service, he was invested as a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in 1874, after he had left Washington. He then served in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, and, in early 1876, was in London as secretary to a Royal Commission on Fugitive Slaves. After this he was posted back to Washington, then to Guatemala in 1883. In 1885, Howard was promoted again to be Secretary to the legation at

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, and subsequently held the same post at the legations at

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and St Petersburg. In 1894, he was appointed Secretary to the embassy at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In 1896, he was appointed minister to the Netherlands and also to Luxembourg. While at The Hague, Howard was knighted KCMG, in January 1899, and, a few months later, he was named as British co-representative (with Sir Julian Pauncefote) at the Hague Convention of 1899. Sir Henry was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the

King's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are prese ...

of 1907. In October 1908 he left

after presenting his letters of recall to

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...

, who conferred on him the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

. Some of his furniture and effects were shipped on the Great Eastern Railway Company's ship ''Yarmouth'' which sank with all hands on its way from Hook of Holland to Harwich on 27 October 1908. In December 1914, after the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Sir Henry was appointed "His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on a Special Mission to His Holiness the Pope" (

Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his deat ...

, who had been elected that September). Sir Henry was accompanied by a member of Foreign Office staff to be Secretary of the mission. This appointment established full diplomatic relations with the Holy See for the first time since 1558 (although the United Kingdom had been intermittently represented at the Vatican during the 19th century by diplomats accredited to Italian states). Sir Henry's instructions, in a letter to him from the Foreign Secretary,

Sir Edward Grey Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, (25 April 1862 – 7 September 1933), better known as Sir Edward Grey, was a British Liberal statesman and the main force behind British foreign policy in the era of the First World War. An adhe ...

, were published in a parliamentary paper (Cd.7736):

You will ... in presenting your letters of credence to his Holiness, and offering him the cordial congratulations of his Majesty the King on the occasion of his election, intimate to him that his Majesty's Government are anxious to put themselves into direct communication with him for the purpose of demonstrating the motives which have governed their attitude since the first moment that the normal relations between the Great Powers of Europe began to be disturbed and of establishing that his Majesty's Government used every effort to maintain the peace of Europe which his Holiness' venerated predecessor had so much at heart.

In August 1916 Sir Henry retired from the Diplomatic Service and was appointed GCMG "in recognition of his long and eminent services, and on the occasion of his retirement." He died in Rome on 4 May 1921.

Family

On 2 October 1867 Henry Howard married Cecilia Riggs, daughter of George Washington Riggs. They had three daughters and two sons. Lady Howard (as she became) died on 3 December 1907.Cecilia Riggs
– thepeerage.com

References

HOWARD, Sir Henry
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, retrieved 30 May 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Henry 1843 births 1921 deaths Henry Howard People educated at Downside School British Roman Catholics Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Holy See Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Order of Orange-Nassau Riggs family