2nd son. Succeeded his elder brother Robert, 2nd Earl, who died unm 23 Oct 1815 (or 1816?).
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MP co Donegal 1783/90; MP St. Johnstown 1790/7, 98-1800; Treasurer of the post office 1800.
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MP for St. Johnstown, Donegal, from 1779 to the Union.
Cursitor in the Court of Chancery, and afterwards Treasurer and reciever-General of the Post Office.
Born 1758?
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Took the name of Forward but reverted to Howard on inheriting the Earldom:
Grants Coat of Arms and change of name to William Howard who now becomes William Forward, of Castle Forward, Donegal. 23 Nov 1780. Copy held at Donegal County Council Archives Service:
"To All and Singular to whom to whom these Presents shall come, Ralph Bigland Garter, Principal King of Arms and Isaac Heard Clarenceux, King of Arms of the South East and West Parts of England from the River Trent southwards send greeting States that His Majesty by warrant under his Royal Signet and sign manual bearing the date the tenth day of August last signified unto the right
Honorable Thomas Earl of Effingham, Deputy with the Royal Approbation to the Most Noble Charles Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and hereditary marshal of England that he hath been graciously pleased to give and grant unto William Howard, second son of Ralph Baron of Clonmore in the Kingdom of Ireland, his royal licence and authority to take the surname and bear the arms of Forward, agreeable to the last will and testament of his grandfather William Howard [surely should be Forward?] esq., late of Castle Forward in the county of Donegal deceased...such arms being first duly exemplified according to the laws of arms and recorded in the Herald's Office. And forasmuch as the said Earl of Effingham did by warrant under his hand and seal bearing date the twenty third of October last authorize and direct [] to exemplify the arms of Forward accordingly.
Know ye therefore that we the said Garter and Clarenceux in obedience to his majesty's command in pursuance of His Lordship's Warrant and by virtue of the letters patent of our several offices to each of us respectively granted under the Great Seal of Great Britain do by these presents exemplify and confirm to the said William Howard now William Forward the arms of Forward viz Argent a Lion rampant Gulies, on the Shoulder an Ermine Spot or Crest on a Wreath A Lion passant Gules charged as the Arms as the same are in the margin hereof more plainly depicted to be borne and used for ever hereafter by him the said William Forward according to the laws of Arms and the Tenor of His Majesty's said Sign. Manual without the Let or Interruption of any Person or Persons whatsoever. In witness whereof we the said Garter and Clarenceux Kings of Arms have to these presents subscribed our Names and affixed the Seals of our several offices this twenty first day of November in the twenty first year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the third by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty.
Accompanied by a Coat of Arms (lion in middle and on top).
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Had 2 sons, 4 daus.:
Mary, married 1822 The Revd. J. W. Arnold, rector of Polebrook, Northamptonshire.
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Presumably he was the Earl of Wicklow who rescued the Duchess of Devonshire from France in his pleasure boat in 1793.
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His son William Forward Howard 1788-1869 was 4th Earl of Wicklow.
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William Cecil James Howard, the last surviving member* of that family to hold the title 'Earl of Wicklow' died in 1978 and is buried in Kilbride Churchyard. The title 'Earl of Wicklow' is now extinct.
Shelton Abbey the ancestral home of The Howard family, Earls of Wicklow is just north of the town. The family has not resided there since the early 1900's, it is now [abt 2000] used by the State as a detention centre.
* see here:
In 1978, the earldom of Wicklow and family estates duly devolved upon the 8th Earl's American cousin, Cecil Aymar Howard [9th Earl - but seems he didn?t use the title?].
Born in 1909, Cecil was a grandson of the 6th Earl and son of Hugh Melville Howard. His mother, May, was the only child of New York lawyer Benjamin Aymar Sands of Southampton, Long Island. Hugh Howard died when Cecil was 10-years-old so he was raised by his mother May, who lived until 1941. By 1959 he had an address at 155 East 52nd Street in Manhattan. His sister Katherine, born in 1910, lived at Ounavarra in Coutown Harbour, Co. Wexford.
The 9th Earl died in 1983 and the Earldom became extinct.
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See http://tigerbot.com/wicklow.html for full later descent of the Howard family.
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Shelton Abbey... ... This leads into the great hall, the walls of which are wainscotted with oak, and hung with family portraits...
(A series of picturesque views of seats of the noblemen and ...Francis Orpen Morris. 1880.)

• Married: 31 MAR 1787 ⁵

1. Eleanor Howard b: 1791

1. Type: Book
   Periodical: Peerage and Baronetage
   Author: Foster
   Date: 1883
2. Text: Footnotes to
   Correspondence of Charles, First Marquis of Cornwalllis
   by Marquis Charles Cornwallis Cornwallis.)
3. Type: Book
   Periodical: Burke?s Peerage
4. Type: Book
   Periodical: Georgiana
   Author: Amanda Foreman
5. Type: Web Site
   Author: Nigel Batty-Smith
   URL: http://www.uk-genealogy.org.uk/index.html