Horace Walpole, writing later in the eighteenth century on Castle Howard, probably summed up this amazing place better than anyone: “Nobody had informed me at one view I should see a palace, a town, a fortified city, temples on high places, woods worthy of being each a metropolis of the Druids, the noblest lawn in the world fenced by half the horizon, and a mausoleum that would tempt one to be buried alive; in short, I have seen gigantic places before, but never a sublime one.”
The Howards of Castle Howard, a branch of one of the most distinguished aristocratic families in England, are descended from Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who was part of the Ridolfi Plot to put Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne and restore Catholicism in England. After the failure of the plot, Queen Elizabeth I had him executed for treason in 1572. On 20 April 1661, Charles Howard, a great-great-grandson of the 4th Duke, was created 1st Earl of Carlisle (of the third creation) by King Charles II. It is from this Charles Howard that all successive generations of the family at Castle Howard are descended. It was Charles’s grandson, Charles Howard, the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, who built Castle Howard.
Much of the modern British aristocracy can trace their roots to the 6th Earl of Carlisle. Through his daughter Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, he is the ancestor of the present Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon, Argyll, Leinster, and Westminster, Marquesses of Hertford and Londonderry, Earls of Selkirk, Lichfield, and Cromartie, and the current Viscount Dilhorne, among many others.
George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, was the last earl to live at Castle Howard. He was a talented artist and a friend of Lewis Carroll, William Morris, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. He was also committed socialist who believed that his children should inherit equally, a rare concept among the British aristocracy, where the eldest male usually inherits everything. Thus, at his death in 1911, the earldom passed, by law, to his eldest son, Charles James Stanley Howard, who became the 10th Earl, while Castle Howard was left to his second son, the Hon. Geoffrey Howard. At his death in 1935, Geoffrey’s eldest son, George Howard, inherited the famous house. It was George, created Baron Howard of Henderskelfe in 1983, who saved the house after a disastrous fire during World War II and opened it to the public for the first time. George’s second son, the Hon. Nicholas Howard, runs Castle Howard today.
One of the most important members of the family was George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, Knight of the Garter, Privy Councillor, Member of Parliament, and Viceroy of Ireland. (He was also a passionate lover of poetry who exchanged sonnets with William Wordsworth.) The 7th Earl’s most lasting legacy is the Morpeth Roll, presented to him in 1841 by the people of Ireland as a parting gift when he left his post as Chief Secretary. (He was then, as his father’s heir, Viscount Morpeth.) The Morpeth Roll is a unique document: more than 1,370 feet long and comprised of 652 pieces of paper, the roll contains the signatures of more than 160,000 people across Ireland. The Morpeth Roll is prized today because its valuable information predates the Great Famine and substitutes for Irish censuses lost during the civil war.
The eminent curator of Castle Howard, Dr. Christopher Ridgway, will speak about Castle Howard, its family, its art, and the Morpeth Roll on Thursday, 8 November, at NEHGS headquarters in Boston. You can sign-up for the lecture here.
