Of ten live infants born to Scrope Lord Howe and Charlotte von Kielmansegg almost a century earlier, just two great-grandchildren remained. Yet they were sufficient. Mary, Countess Pembroke, Caroline’s beloved aunt and mentor, would rejoice to see Howe Peter Browne become the 2nd Marquess of Sligo and the founder of a large family.
Richard Penn Curzon took the name of Curzon-Howe after his marriage in 1820; his mother Charlotte persuaded King George IV to grant him the title of 1st Earl Howe, in effect re-creating the earldom of his grandfather, Richard, despite that naval hero’s lack of sons.30 The title survives to this day in the Curzon family.
Admiral Lord Howe’s personal legacy also has lived on. He would remain a celebrated figure throughout the nineteenth century, notably on the strength of his victory on the Glorious First of June. In 1894, on the centennial of that triumph, the newspapers compared the Glorious First to Waterloo and classed it among the compulsory British battles studied by schoolboys everywhere.31 Today the Glorious First is no longer found in British school histories, but the name of Howe is still remembered in the United Kingdom through its association with Richard’s great victory.
William’s legacy turned out very differently. In Britain, he is still occasionally glimpsed in histories of the Seven Years’ War as a heroic young officer, giving a triumphant hurrah as he and a handful of his comrades surprise the sentries at the clifftops in Quebec. In the United States, he is seen as the aristocratic British commander in chief who lost his nerve at Bunker Hill, failed the test against Washington’s young Continental Army, and was mysteriously soft on the American enemy. In his own lifetime, the vitriolic critiques of the war years were distilled into historical accounts. The American War of Independence did not end William’s career, but it did irretrievably mar it.
When the Howe women assumed direction of the family after the death of Scrope Lord Howe in 1735, their dynasty had aspirations to greatness. In an era when the nation’s fortunes were closely linked to success in warfare, the brothers climbed high. While they were still young, they had served in the Seven Years’ War, a conflict that would see Britain emerge as a major world power and the Howe brothers as household names.
But the dynasty’s rise was disrupted by their association with a war that today has been called “Britain’s Vietnam,” a war the British nation could not recall with pride. With powerful friends and determined, skillful management, the Howe men and women always remained at the center of Britain’s aristocratic world. Yet widespread suspicion of the brothers, their actions, and their motives during the war has never entirely gone away.
It is apt that their sister’s correspondence has helped to restore to the brothers their true identities. George, Richard, and William would no doubt have agreed that there is much more to be revealed about them through their whole-family histories than through military dispatches and official correspondence. Caroline, in fact, possessed the same talents that carried her brothers to the tops of their professions. Lady Spencer paid tribute to the distinctive persona of her lifelong friend when she unconsciously slipped into language normally used in her day to dignify a public—and masculine—figure:
I often wonder how it happens that you & I see things as we frequently do, in the same light for nothing can be more diametrically opposite than our Characters in most things__You have a great deal of personal Courage, I am the veriest Coward that ever breath’d, Your Idea’s are Lofty & Magnificent mine are all Low & Simple—You love the Towering Mountain, the foaming Torrent & the raging Ocean—I the Shady Wood the green Meadow & the Winding Stream.
“[I]n short,” she rhapsodized, “you have a Soul that could govern a Nation & I as I have often told you should have been the Curate’s Wife—but all this is Nonsensical my Dearest Howey we were both born for Noble ends to make ourselves & others happy—let us follow our calling & not grow tir’d of the delightful office.”32
Caroline never tired of her “delightful office.” Through triumph and failure, victory and disaster, her belief in herself and the purpose of her own life, the lives and destinies of her brothers, and the many great and little doings all around her shine through in her written words.
ILLUSTRATIONS INSERT.
Wedding Portrait of Charlotte von Kielmansegg, 1719.
Sophia Charlotte von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington (1675–1725).
Aunt Juliana Page dressed as the goddess Diana, probably for a masquerade. She is seen here in her midthirties. Masquerades were highly popular in the eighteenth century.
Wedding Portrait of Mary Howe, 1725. The ceremony made her Countess Pembroke. In her left hand is a peer’s coronet.
Young George Augustus Howe dressed as Cupid, probably for a masquerade ball.
Portrait of George Augustus, 3rd Viscount Howe (half-length), wearing the uniform of the 1st Guards (oil on canvas).
Thomas Gainsborough’s famous portrait of Mary Countess Howe, painted in the year following the Peace of 1763.
Commodore Viscount Howe (1726–99).
The Death of General Wolfe (1727–59), ca 1771 (oil on panel).
Lady Spencer with her oldest daughter, Georgiana, ca 1760, her “Dear Little Gee.”
Mezzotint of “The Honble. Sr. Wm. Howe.” The lettering reads “Knight of the Bath, & Commander in Chief of his Majesty’s Forces in America.” This print was created in London in 1777, while William was in America. It is probably a copy of an earlier portrait by another artist. The star and shoulder sash of the Order of the Bath would have been added by the creator of the image to bring it up to date.
Lord Howe and the Comte d’Estaing off Rhode Island, 9th August 1778. The two fleets had arrived off Newport, Rhode Island, by August 9, 1778, but it was not until several days later, after a severe storm, that the battle commenced.
Sophia Charlotte, eldest daughter of Admiral Howe. The similar backgrounds and costumes of the two sitters in this and the portrait below, of Lady Mary Howe, suggest that these portraits were painted at the same time, probably on the occasion of the marriages of two of the Howe daughters in 1787.
Portrait of Lady Mary Juliana Howe, middle daughter of Admiral Howe.
The Battle of June 1, 1794. The Queen Charlotte, in the center, is engaging with the Montagne, at right. In the foreground, crew of the wrecked Vengeur cling to its spars.
Caroline Howe in 1812.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When I began working on The Howe Dynasty in 2014, I did not foresee what an enormously complex project it would be, one that would involve uncovering the backstory of a once-famous family now largely forgotten. It was a painstaking process that frequently took me outside of my historical expertise in eighteenth-century Atlantic history. Its successful completion drew upon the assistance and support of many people and institutions.
First and foremost is my husband, Andy, who encouraged the project from the start. His lifelong interest in British naval history meant that, despite being a biochemist, he was immediately supportive of the concept of the first-ever history of the family of Richard Admiral Lord Howe, the hero of the Glorious First of June of 1794. Andy was a constant source of reassurance and encouragement, but he also contributed in more substantial ways. His professional skill of adhering to rigid word totals while maintaining clarity, honed during a career writing scientific-grant applications, was brought to bear on the first complete draft of the book, greatly reducing its length and enhancing its readability. He drew the maps—a talent I didn’t realize he had—and created mock-ups of the book cover that contributed to its final design. He provided IT skills and exercised editorial judgment when I was so close to the material that I needed a fresh eye.
I wish to thank the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, for funding a highly productive month in the Clements research room in 2015 through the generous award of an Upton Foundation Fellowship in American History. The dedicated research room staff assisted my project in numerous ways. The contributions of Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Cheney J
. Schopieray, and Jayne Ptolemy ranged from identifying invaluable new sources to figuring out how to mute the screenshot sound on my Nikon camera. The month I spent at the Clements enriched my project in ways that I had not anticipated, and it broadened my treatment of the Howe family’s experience during the War of Independence. Cheney Schopieray directed my attention to the Jane Strachey correspondence in the Somerset Archives, which yielded a trove of new material on the Howe women on the home front in 1776–77.
I am grateful to the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies for a fellowship to consult the resources at the Jefferson Library and the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library in October 2017. During our one-month stay in Charlottesville, Andy and I were welcomed and supported by Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Whitney Pippen, and all the staff at ICJS. Andrew O’Shaughnessy was enthusiastic about a biography of the Howe family from its earliest planning stages. He, Gaye Wilson, Marie Frank, and others contributed their enthusiasm and insight to many aspects of my work. Our friend Liz Poarch greatly contributed to the comfort of our visit by lending us the use of her home in Charlottesville while she was on holiday.
A number of individuals read and commented on the manuscript in various stages. I would like to acknowledge my special appreciation for the contributions of the late Professor Peter D. G. Thomas, whose enthusiasm for the project from its inception, willingness to read and reread every draft, and generous contribution of his preeminent expertise in eighteenth-century British politics enriched the book and encouraged me during the six years I labored on it. Sadly, his passing in July 2020 meant that he never saw the completed volume.
Stephen Brumwell generously agreed to give the manuscript the benefit of his critical eye as a military historian, rescuing me from errors and directing me to specialized scholarship that enhanced my accounts of the early army careers of George and William Howe. Steven Sarson, H. T. Dickinson, and Andrew O’Shaughnessy were all enthusiastic readers of the whole manuscript at various stages. Steve Sarson obligingly bandied about ideas over the telephone regarding various aspects of the book as it developed.
I am grateful to Professor John McCusker for the encouragement, support, and advice he offered in various stages of the project. Professor Ira Gruber generously shared with me his notes of the Dowager Countess Howe’s correspondence with Count Kielmansegg in the von Kielmansegg family papers at Heinde, Lower Saxony. Martin Price, who shares my enthusiasm for the letters of Caroline Howe, contributed a number of little-known facts regarding her life, the results of his private research.
Thanks to my mother, Susan Zorn, who communicated her enthusiasm for the book, back when it was still just an idea, to friend and publisher Curtis Vouwie. Through him, my project was brought to the attention of Ike Williams and Katherine Flynn at Kneerim & Williams Literary Agency. Katherine Flynn has been my dedicated literary agent throughout the project, mentoring me through the proposal process and troubleshooting problems both small and large throughout the years of research and writing.
I wish to thank my editor, Bob Weil at Liveright, for his detailed and demanding line editing and for his insistence at every stage that there were always possibilities for improving this book. The result was a manuscript that achieved the very highest standard. Gina Iaquinta at Liveright worked closely with me to polish the final version, contributing not only her skill and experience as an editor but also her tremendous enthusiasm, an essential ingredient at a late and tiring stage of the project. Kathleen Brandes was a meticulous and thorough copyeditor. Thanks also to designer Yang Kim, and Steve Attardo and the Art Department, for the stunning book jacket.
Dave Flavell and Mel Clements put me up at their flat in London so many times I’ve lost count. Without their generous hospitality, I would not have been able to explore the letters of Caroline Howe as effectively and complete this project. A stay at the home of Nigel Carter and Jill Meisenhelder near San Diego, California, in 2014 enabled me to visit the Huntington Library in San Marino. Transport was generously provided by Nigel, whose patience while I was in the library allowed me to consult the Howe papers and other collections. I would also like to acknowledge the support of my children, Eve and Paul—now adults—throughout the gestation of the book, which has been with our family for many years.
I am grateful to Lord and Lady Howe for welcoming me to Penn House in Buckinghamshire to view their private collection of portraits of the eighteenth-century Howe family, as well as a collection of letters written by members of the royal family to Caroline Howe and others. Lord Howe kindly allowed me to arrange for the portraits to be photographed and reproduced in my book.
My research took me to numerous archives, where staff members helped in many ways. In addition to the staff at the British Library’s Manuscripts Reading Room who assisted me in exploring Caroline Howe’s letters, Dr. Margaret Makepeace helped me retrieve information regarding the career of Thomas Howe from the British Library’s voluminous East India Company Records. The National Register of Archives for Scotland arranged for me to consult the manuscript diary of Lady Mary Coke at General Register House in Edinburgh. Extracts from the diary of Lady Mary Coke are reproduced in this work by kind permission of the Douglas-Home family, Earls of Home. For permission to use the Strachey Collection in the Somerset Archives and Local Studies, I acknowledge the South West Heritage Trust. Extracts from the Westport Estate Papers and the Thomas Conolly Papers are reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. I am also grateful to the Sheffield Archives, Sheffield City Council, Libraries Archives and Information, for permission to cite from the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham series of papers within the Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments Collection. For anyone I have forgotten in a project that spanned six years, please accept my apologies and my sincere thanks.
Finally, I would like to thank my father, Bruce Richardson, and my brother, Joel Richardson, for their unfailing faith in my abilities as a writer and a historian as well as their admiration that lifted me up at some bad moments. They both passed away while the project was underway. I miss you guys, and I wish you could have stayed to see The Howe Dynasty.
NOTES
Abbreviations Used in the Notes
People
CH
Caroline Howe
LS
Lady Spencer
Repositories
BL
British Library
DRO
Derbyshire Record Office
NA
National Archives, Kew
NLI
National Library of Ireland
Notts. Archives
Nottinghamshire Archives
NRAS
National Register of Archives for Scotland
NRS
National Records of Scotland
WCL
William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan
Digital Resources
BC
17th–18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers [Farmington Hills, MI]: Gale Cengage Learning
BNA
British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
ODNB Online
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online, Oxford University Press, 2004
Frequently Cited Works and Collections
Anderson
Troyer Steele Anderson, The Command of the Howe Brothers during the American Revolution (New York and London, 1936)
Barrow
Sir John Barrow, The Life of Richard Earl Howe, K.G. (London, 1838; this edition Elibron Classics Replica Edition, 2005)
BL-AP
British Library, Althorp Papers
BL-NP
British Library, Newcastle Papers, Correspondence: 32686-32992
CPE
Sir Egerton Brydges, Collins’s Peerage of England: Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical (9 vols., London, 1812)
Davies
K. G. Davies, ed., Documents of the American Revolution, 177
0-1783 (21 vols., Kill-o’-the-Grange, 1972–1981)
Gruber
Ira D. Gruber, The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution (New York, 1972)
HMC
Historical Manuscripts Commission
HWC
The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole’s Correspondence, ed. W. S. Lewis (48 vols., London, 1937–1983)
LEC
Montagu Pennington, ed., Letters from Mrs Elizabeth Carter, to Mrs Montagu, between the years 1755 and 1800 chiefly upon literary and moral subjects (3 vols., London, 1817)
LLMC
The Letters and Journals of Lady Mary Coke (4 vols., first published 1889–96; Facsimile Edition published in Bath, 1970)
NRAS-DH/LMC
National Register of Archives for Scotland, Papers of the Douglas-Home Family, diary of Lady Mary Coke
The Howe Dynasty Page 46
