Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk

Preceded byThe 14th Duke of NorfolkSucceeded byThe 16th Duke of NorfolkPostmaster GeneralIn office
6 July 1895 – 10 April 1900MonarchsPrime MinisterThe Marquess of SalisburyPreceded byArnold MorleySucceeded byThe Marquess of LondonderryMember of the House of Lords
Lord TemporalIn office
25 November 1860 – 11 February 1917
Hereditary PeeragePreceded byThe 14th Duke of NorfolkSucceeded byThe 16th Duke of Norfolk Personal detailsBorn(1847-12-27)27 December 1847Died11 February 1917(1917-02-11) (aged 69)NationalityBritishPolitical partyConservativeSpouse(s)(1) Lady Flora Abney-Hastings (1854–1887)
(2) Gwendolen Constable-Maxwell (1877–1945)ChildrenPhilip Fitzalan-Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey
Lady Mary Rachel Fitzalan-Howard
Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk
Lady Katherine Fitzalan-Howard
Lady Winifred Fitzalan-HowardParent(s)Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk
Hon. Augusta Lyons

Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, KG, GCVO, VD, PC (27 December 1847 – 11 February 1917), styled Lord Maltravers until 1856 and Earl of Arundel and Surrey between 1856 and 1860, was a British Unionist politician and philanthropist. He served as Postmaster General between 1895 and 1900, but is best remembered for his philanthropic work, which concentrated on Roman Catholic causes and the city of Sheffield.

Background

Norfolk was the eldest son of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, and the Hon. Augusta Mary Minna Catherine, younger daughter of Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons. Edmund Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent, was his younger brother. The Duke was first educated at The Oratory School, but owing to restrictions from the Catholic Hierarchy he was unable to attend either Oxford or Cambridge Universities. His higher education instead consisted of a Grand Tour of Europe around 1867 under the guidance of classical scholar and biographer Robert Ornsby.^{[citation needed]}

Public career

Norfolk succeeded to the dukedom at the age of 12 on the death of his father on 25 November 1860. He also succeeded to the hereditary office of Earl Marshal held by the Dukes of Norfolk. At the same time he inherited almost 50,000 acres with 19,400 acres in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 21,000 acres in Sussex and 4,400 acres in Norfolk.^[1]

On 5 April 1871 he was commissioned as captain in the part-time 9th (Arundel) Sussex Rifle Volunteer Corps, which had been raised by his father just before his death. He was promoted to major in the 2nd Sussex Rifle Volunteers on 4 March 1882.^[2]

In 1895, he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Postmaster General^[3] by Lord Salisbury, a post he held until early 1900, when he resigned in order to serve in the Boer War.^[4] In 1895 he also became Mayor of Sheffield; serving two terms during which he arranged the city's monumental celebrations in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Shortly thereafter he was appointed the first Lord Mayor of Sheffield, but retained the office only until November 1897. He was appointed an honorary Freeman of the City of Sheffield three years later, in March 1900.^[5] In November 1900 he became the first Mayor of Westminster.^[6]

Aged 53, he went in 1900 to South Africa for service in the Second Boer War as a lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Yeomanry,^[7] in the course of which he was wounded near Pretoria and invalided back to Britain. After the end of the war, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of his volunteer battalion (now the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment) on 24 December 1902,^[8][2] and chaired the Royal Commission on Militia and Volunteers that was established in 1903. The commission attempted to define the role of the auxiliary forces, and made detailed proposals on how their deficiencies in training and equipment could be addressed.

Norfolk's commission proposed a Home Defence Army raised by conscription, which was unpopular with the Volunteers and Yeomanry, and was quickly shelved. However, in conjunction with the Elgin Commission on the War in South Africa, the Norfolk Commission's work influenced the creation of the Territorial Force (TF) under the 1908 Haldane Reforms, which subsumed the old Volunteer Force.^[9][10][11] He retired from command of the 4th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment (as the battalion had become in the TF) in 1913 after 42 years' service.^[2]

In his capacity as Earl Marshal, the duke arranged the state funerals of William Ewart Gladstone (1898), Queen Victoria (1901), and King Edward VII (1910), and the coronations of Edward VII (1902) and George V (1911).^[12][13]

Apart from serving as Earl Marshal between 1860 and 1917, Norfolk was Lord Lieutenant of Sussex between 1905 and 1917.

He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1886,^[14] and received the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) from King Edward VII on 11 August 1902, following the King's coronation two days earlier.^[15][16]

He was three-time chairman of the National Union of Conservative Associations, grand chancellor of the Primrose League, and commanding officer of the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment.^[13]

Philanthropy and Religious Work

As is common with the Dukes of Norfolk, but exceptional within the British aristocracy, Norfolk was a Roman Catholic. In his dual role as Premier Duke and most prominent Catholic in England, he undertook a programme of philanthropy which served in part to reintegrate Catholics into civic life. He was born a generation after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 but before the reconstitution of Roman Catholic dioceses in 1850. By the time he came of age as Duke in 1868, the process of Catholic Emancipation had made the establishment of Catholic institutions legal, but the reality of two hundred years of legislation in favour of the Church of England left Catholics with few structures of their own.^{[citation needed]}

Norfolk's first major benefaction commemorated his coming of age as Duke. At his ancestral seat of Arundel Castle (being also one of the Earls of Arundel), he sponsored the construction of the Church of Our Lady and St Philip Neri between 1868 and 1873. This church was later chosen to serve as Arundel Cathedral in 1965 and rededicated in 1971 to include Saint Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, one of his ancestors.^[18]

In 1877, he married his first wife, Lady Flora Hastings. He later wrote, 'Shortly after my most happy marriage, I wished to build a church as a thank-offering to God.' To commemorate this occasion, he undertook the construction of a church in his titular ancestral seat in Norwich, Norfolk. After commencing in 1882 with a gift of £200,000, construction would not be completed until 1910, nearly 23 years after Lady Flora's death in 1887. This church was also later chosen to serve as St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich when the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia was re-established in 1976.

In the 1890s Norfolk was instrumental in the campaign that convinced the Vatican authorities to relax its restrictions on Catholic students enrolling at the great English universities, culminating with the co-founding of St Edmund's College, Cambridge along with Baron Anatole von Hugel. He was a significant contributor to the Father Damien fund to fight leprosy. He also donated funds for the building of the University of Sheffield and was its initial Chancellor between 1905 and 1917.

From 1898 on, he edited, together with Charles Tindal Gatty, the hymnal Arundel Hymns, to which Pope Leo XIII contributed a preface in the form of a personal letter.^[19]

Family

In 1877, Norfolk married his first wife, Lady Flora Paulyna Hetty Barbara Abney-Hastings (13 February 1854 – 11 April 1887), daughter of Charles Abney-Hastings, 1st Baron Donington and Edith Rawdon-Hastings, 10th Countess of Loudoun, in 1877. They had one child:

• Philip Joseph Mary Fitzalan-Howard, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Arundel (7 September 1879 – 8 July 1902), died unmarried.

After Lady Flora's death from Bright's Disease in April 1887, aged 33, Norfolk remained unmarried for nearly seventeen years.

On 7 February 1904,^[20] at age 56, he married, as his second wife, his first cousin once removed, the Hon. Gwendolen Constable-Maxwell, eldest daughter of Marmaduke Constable-Maxwell, 11th Lord Herries of Terregles and the Hon. Angela Mary Charlotte, daughter of Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop. She was 30 years his junior, and aged 27 at their wedding. They had four children:

• Lady Mary Rachel Fitzalan-Howard (27 June 1905 – 17 August 1992)
• Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk (1908–1975)
• Lady Katherine Mary Fitzalan-Howard (born 1912) married in 1940 Joseph Anthony Moore Phillips. Lady Katherine Phillips was the aunt of Captain Mark Phillips. She died in 2000.^[21][22]
• Lady Winifrede Alice Fitzalan-Howard (1914-2006) married in 1943 Lieutenant-Colonel John Edward Broke Freeman

In 1908 Gwendolen succeeded her father as Lady Herries of Terregles. The Duke of Norfolk died in February 1917, aged 69, and was succeeded in the dukedom by his only surviving son, Bernard. On his death, Lord Curzon said he was a man "who was diffident about powers which were in excess of the ordinary".^{[citation needed]} The Duchess of Norfolk died in August 1945, aged 68. She was succeeded in the Scottish lordship of parliament by her son, Bernard.

Ancestry

Family tree

v t e  Family tree of the Dukes of Norfolk; Earls of Arundel, East Anglia, Norfolk, Norwich, Nottingham, and Surrey; and Barons Mowbray, Segrave and Stourton

Earl of East Anglia (Earls of Norfolk and Suffolk) (1st creation), before 1069 Ralph the Staller (c. 1011–1068) 1st Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, or of the East Angles c. 1066/67–1068 Ralph de Gael (c. 1040 – c. 1096) 2nd Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, or of the East Angles until 1074 Earldom forfeit, 1074 Earl of Norfolk (2nd creation), 1141 Hugh Bigod (1095–1177) 1st Earl of Norfolk 1141–1177 Roger Bigod (c. 1144/1150–1221) 2nd Earl of Norfolk 1189–1221 (disputed 1177–1189) Hugh Bigod (1186–1225) 3rd Earl of Norfolk 1221–1225 Baron Segrave of Se(a)grave, 1283 Nicholas Segrave (c. 1238–bef. 1295) 1st Baron Segrave Roger Bigod (c. 1209–1270) 4th Earl of Norfolk 1233–1270 Hugh Bigod (c. 1211–1266) Baron Mowbray, 1283 John Segrave (c. 1256–1325) 2nd Baron Segrave King Edward I (1239–1307) Roger de Mowbray (1254–1297) 1st Baron Mowbray Roger Bigod (c. 1245–1306) 5th Earl of Norfolk 1270–1306 Earldom extinct, 1270 Earl of Norfolk (3rd creation), 1312 Stephen Segrave (d. 1325) 3rd Baron Segrave Thomas of Brotherton (1300–1338) 1st Earl of Norfolk 1312–1338 John Mowbray (1286–1322) 2nd Baron Mowbray John Segrave (1315–1353) 4th Baron Segrave Margaret of Brotherton (1320–1399) 2nd Countess of Norfolk 1338–1399, Duchess of Norfolk "for life" 1397–1399 John Mowbray (1310–1361) 3rd Baron Mowbray Elizabeth de Segrave (1338–1368) 5th Baroness Segrave John de Mowbray (1340–1368) 4th Baron Mowbray Earl of Nottingham (1st creation), 1377 Earl of Nottingham (2nd creation), 1383 Duke of Norfolk (1st creation), 1397 John de Mowbray (1365–1383) 1st Earl of Nottingham, 6th Baron Segrave, 5th Baron Mowbray Thomas de Mowbray (1366–1399) 1st Duke of Norfolk 1397–1399, 3rd Earl of Norfolk 1399, 7th Baron Segrave, 6th Baron Mowbray Earldom of Nottingham extinct, 1383 Titles forfeit, 1399 Baron Stourton, 1448 Duke of Norfolk (1st creation restored), 1425 John Stourton (1400–1462) 1st Baron Stourton, 1448–1462 Thomas de Mowbray (1385–1405) 4th Earl of Norfolk, 8th Baron Segrave, 7th Baron Mowbray 1399–1405 John de Mowbray (1392–1432) 2nd Duke of Norfolk 1425–1432, 5th Earl of Norfolk, 9th Baron Segrave, 8th Baron Mowbray 1405–1432 Margaret de Mowbray (c. 1388–1459) Robert Howard (1385–1436) Isabel de Mowbray (c. 1400–1452) James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (c. 1394–1463) Duke of Norfolk (4th creation), 1483 William Stourton (before 1426–1478) 2nd Baron Stourton, 1462–1478 John de Mowbray (1415–1461) 3rd Duke of Norfolk, 6th Earl of Norfolk, 10th Baron Segrave, 9th Baron Mowbray 1432–1461 John Howard (1425–1485) 1st Duke of Norfolk, 13th Baron Segrave, 12th Baron Mowbray 1483–1485 Titles forfeit, 1485 Earl of Surrey and Warenne (2nd creation), 1451 Duke of Norfolk (4th creation) restored and Earl of Surrey, 1514 John Stourton (c. 1454–1485) 3rd Baron Stourton, 1479–1485 William Stourton (c. 1457–1524) 5th Baron Stourton, 1487–1524 John de Mowbray (1444–1476) 4th Duke of Norfolk, 7th Earl of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey and Warenne, 11th Baron Segrave, 10th Baron Mowbray 1461–1476 King Edward IV (1442–1483) Thomas Howard (1443–1524) 2nd Duke of Norfolk, 1st Earl of Surrey 1514–1524 Dukedom of Norfolk, Earldom of Nottingham, Earldom of Surrey and Warenne extinct, 1476 Duke of Norfolk (3rd creation), Earl of Nottingham (3rd creation), and Earl of Warenne, 1477 Francis Stourton (1485–1487) 4th Baron Stourton, 1485–1487 Edward Stourton (1463–1535) 6th Baron Stourton, 1524–1535 Anne de Mowbray (1472–1481) 8th Countess of Norfolk, 12th Baroness Segrave, 11th Baroness Mowbray 1476–1481 Richard of Shrewsbury (1473–1483) Duke of York, Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Nottingham, Earl of Warenne 1477–1483 Anne of York (1475–1511) Thomas Howard (1473–1554) 3rd Duke of Norfolk, 2nd Earl of Surrey 1524–1554 Edmund Howard (c. 1478–1539) Elizabeth Boleyn (c. 1480–1538) Earldom of Norfolk extinct and Baronies Segrave and Mowbray in abeyance, 1481 Dukedom of Norfolk, Earldom of Nottingham, Earldom of Warenne extinct, 1483 Attainted, 1547 Restored, 1553 William Stourton (c. 1505–1548) 7th Baron Stourton Earl of Nottingham (5th creation), 1525 King Henry VIII (1491–1547) Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507–1536) Charles Stourton (c. 1520–1557) 8th Baron Stourton Henry Howard (1517–1547) styled Earl of Surrey Thomas Howard (c. 1520–1582) Viscount Howard of Bindon Mary FitzRoy (1519–1557) Henry FitzRoy (1519–1536) Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Earl of Nottingham Catherine Howard (c. 1524–1542) Earldom of Nottingham extinct, 1536 Thomas Howard (1536–1572) 4th Duke of Norfolk, 3rd Earl of Surrey, 13th Baron Mowbray 1554–1572 Henry Howard (1540–1614) Earl of Northampton Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) Dukedom (3rd creation) forfeit, 1572 Earl of Arundel (3rd creation), 1580 Earl of Suffolk (4th creation), 1603 John Stourton (1553–1588) 9th Baron Stourton Edward Stourton (c. 1555–1633) 10th Baron Stourton Philip Howard (1557–1595) 20th/13th/1st Earl of Arundel, styled Earl of Surrey Thomas Howard (1561–1626) Earl of Suffolk Lord William Howard (1563–1640) Earldom of Arundel and Barony Mowbray attainted, 1589 see Earls, Marquesses, and Dukes of Suffolk family tree Earl of Arundel (3rd creation) and Barony Mowbray restored, 1604 Earl of Norfolk (5th creation), 1644 William Stourton (c. 1594–1672) 11th Baron Stourton Thomas Howard (1585–1646) 21st/14th/2nd Earl of Arundel, 2nd/4th Earl of Surrey, 1st Earl of Norfolk, 14th Baron Mowbray 1644–1646 see Earls of Shrewsbury family tree Edward Stourton (1617–1644) Henry Frederick Howard (1608–1652) 22nd/15th/3rd Earl of Arundel, 3rd/5th Earl of Surrey, 2nd Earl of Norfolk, 15th Baron Mowbray 1646–1652 Alethea Howard 1585–1654 17th Baroness Strange of Blackmere, 14th Baroness Talbot, 13th Baroness Furnivall Duke of Norfolk (4th creation restored), 1660 Baron Howard of Castle Rising, 1669 Earl of Norwich (3rd creation), 1672 William Stourton (d. 1685) 12th Baron Stourton Thomas Howard (1627–1677) 5th Duke of Norfolk, 21st/14th/2nd Earl of Arundel, 4th/6th Earl of Surrey, 16th Baron Mowbray 1660–1677 18th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 15th Baron Talbot, 14th Baron Furnivall 1654–1677 Henry Howard (1628–1684) 6th Duke of Norfolk, 22nd/15th/3rd Earl of Arundel, 5th/7th Earl of Surrey, 1st Earl of Norwich and Baron Howard of Castle Rising, 18th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 17th Baron Mowbray, 15th Baron Talbot, 14th Baron Furnivall 1672–1684 Hon. Charles Howard (1630–1713) Col. Bernard Howard (1641–1717) Edward Stourton (1665–1720) 13th Baron Stourton Thomas Stourton (1667–1744) 14th Baron Stourton Charles Stourton (1669–1739) Henry Howard (1655–1701) 7th Duke of Norfolk, 22nd/15th/3rd Earl of Arundel, 5th/7th Earl of Surrey, 2nd Earl of Norwich and Baron Howard of Castle Rising, 18th Baron Mowbray, 19th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 15th Baron Talbot, 14th Baron Furnivall, 1684–1701 Lord Thomas Howard (1662–1689) Henry Charles Howard (d. 1720) Thomas Howard (1683–1732) 8th Duke of Norfolk, 23rd/16th/4th Earl of Arundel, 6th/8th Earl of Surrey, 3rd Earl of Norwich and Baron Howard of Castle Rising, 18th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 15th Baron Talbot, 14th Baron Furnivall, 19th Baron Mowbray 1701–1732 Edward Howard (1685–1777) 9th Duke of Norfolk, 24th/17th/5th Earl of Arundel, 7th/9th Earl of Surrey, 4th Earl of Norwich and Baron Howard of Castle Rising, 20th Baron Mowbray, 20th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 15th Baron Talbot, 14th Baron Furnivall 1732–1777 Philip Howard (1688–1750) Bernard Howard (1674–1735) Earldom of Norwich (3rd creation) and barony of Howard of Castle Rising extinct and Baronies Furnivall, Mowbray, Segrave, Strange of Blackmere, and Talbot abeyant, 1777 Charles Stourton (1702–1753) 15th Baron Stourton William Stourton (1704–1781) 16th Baron Stourton Winifred Howard (1726–1753) Anne Howard (1742–1787) Charles Howard (1720–1786) 10th Duke of Norfolk, 25th/18th/6th Earl of Arundel, 8th/10th Earl of Surrey 1777–1786 Henry Howard (1713–1787) Charles Philip Stourton (1752–1816) 17th Baron Stourton Charles Howard (1746–1815) 11th Duke of Norfolk, 26th/19th/7th Earl of Arundel, 9th/11th Earl of Surrey 1786–1815 William Stourton (1776–1846) 18th Baron Stourton Bernard Howard (1765–1842) 12th Duke of Norfolk, 27th/20th/8th Earl of Arundel, 10th/12th Earl of Surrey 1815–1842 Charles Stourton (1802–1872) 19th Baron Stourton Henry Howard (1791–1856) 13th Duke of Norfolk, 28th/21st/9th Earl of Arundel, 11th/13th Earl of Surrey 1842–1856 Baron Mowbray and Baron Segrave abeayance restored, 1878 Baron Howard of Glossop Alfred Joseph Stourton (1829–1893) 24th Baron Segrave, 21st/23rd Baron Mowbray, 20th Baron Stourton Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard (1815–1860) 14th Duke of Norfolk, 29th/22nd/10th Earl of Arundel, 12th/14th Earl of Surrey 1856–1860 Edward George Fitzalan-Howard (1818–1883) 1st Baron Howard of Glossop Charles Botolph Joseph Stourton (1867–1936) 25th Baron Segrave, 22nd/24th Baron Mowbray, 21st Baron Stourton Henry Fitzalan-Howard (1847–1917) 15th Duke of Norfolk, 30th/23rd/11th Earl of Arundel, 13th/15th Earl of Surrey, Lord Maltravers, Earl of Arundel and Surrey 1860–1917 Francis Fitzalan-Howard (1859–1924) 2nd Baron Howard of Glossop William Marmaduke Stourton (1895–1965) 26th Baron Segrave, 23rd/25th Baron Mowbray, 22nd Baron Stourton Bernard Fitzalan-Howard (1908–1975) 16th Duke of Norfolk, 31st/24th/12th Earl of Arundel, 14th/16th Earl of Surrey 1917–1975 Bernard Fitzalan-Howard (1885–1972) 3rd Baron Howard of Glossop Charles Edward Stourton (1923–2006) 27th Baron Segrave, 24th/26th Baron Mowbray, 23rd Baron Stourton Miles Fitzalan-Howard (1915–2002) 17th Duke of Norfolk, 32nd/25th/13th Earl of Arundel, 15th/17th Earl of Surrey, 4th Baron Howard of Glossop 1975–2002 Edward William Stephen Stourton (1953–2021) 28th Baron Segrave, 25th/27th Baron Mowbray, 24th Baron Stourton Edward Fitzalan-Howard (b. 1956) 18th Duke of Norfolk, 33rd/26th/14th Earl of Arundel, 16th/18th Earl of Surrey, 5th Baron Howard of Glossop from 2002 James Charles Peter Stourton (b. 1991) 29th Baron Segrave, 26th/28th Baron Mowbray, 25th Baron Stourton Henry Fitzalan-Howard (b. 1987) styled Earl of Arundel and Surrey

References

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Arnold Morley	Postmaster General 1895–1900	Succeeded by The Marquess of Londonderry
Preceded by New Position	Lord Mayor of Sheffield July 1897–Nov. 1897	Succeeded by George Franklin
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Norfolk	Earl Marshal 1860–1917	Succeeded by The Duke of Norfolk
Preceded by The Marquess of Abergavenny	Lord Lieutenant of Sussex 1905–1917	Succeeded by The Lord Leconfield
Academic offices
Preceded by New position	Chancellor of the University of Sheffield 1905–1917	Succeeded by The Marquess of Crewe
Peerage of England
Preceded by Henry Fitzalan-Howard	Duke of Norfolk 1860–1917	Succeeded by Bernard Fitzalan-Howard