Geoffrey Howard (British politician)

The Honourable
Geoffrey Howard
JP
The Honourable Geoffrey Howard JP
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
	In office; 6 February 1911 – 25 May 1915
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	Sir John Fuller, Bt
Succeeded by	Cecil Beck
Personal details
Born	12 February 1877
Died	20 June 1935 (aged 58)
Nationality	English
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Hon. Ethel Methuen (1915–1932; her death)
Children	5
Parent(s)	The 9th Earl of Carlisle; The Hon. Rosalind Stanley
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Capt. Hon. Geoffrey William Algernon Howard JP (12 February 1877 – 20 June 1935) was an English Liberal politician from the Howard family. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under H. H. Asquith between 1911 and 1915. He served in the Royal Marines in the First World War.

Background and education

Howard was the fifth son of George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (1843–1911), and The Honourable Rosalind Frances Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley.

His father, an artist and politician, inherited the Earldom of Carlisle from his uncle in 1889. The family lived at Naworth Castle in Cumbria. He was one of 11 children and outlived his five brothers.

His elder brother Hubert George Lyulph Howard (1871–1898) was killed at the Battle of Omdurman while working as a war correspondent for The Times.^[1] His father died in 1911 and his eldest brother, Charles, succeeded as the 10th Earl of Carlisle. His brother Christopher (1873–1896) died of pneumonia at Slains Castle after contracting a cold at a shooting party;^[2] and his brother Oliver FSA FRGS (1875–1908) died in Nigeria where he was stationed with the Foreign Office. After Charles died in 1912, just a year after inheriting the earldom, Geoffrey became heir presumptive to his Charles' only son, George Howard, 11th Earl of Carlisle, until 1923.^[3] His youngest brother, Lt. Michael Francis Stafford Howard (1880–1917), was missing and was finally presumed killed in action in the First World War.^[4]

He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated as a Master of Arts. He was also joint Secretary of the Cambridge University Liberal Club from 1897 to 1899.^[5]

On the break-up of his father's estates (which had been left to his mother and subsequently to his sister Lady Mary, wife of Gilbert Murray), he was allocated Castle Howard.^[6]

Political career

Howard was selected as Liberal candidate for the Eskdale division of Cumberland at the 1906 General Election. As part of the Liberal landslide victory he gained the seat for the party, ousting the sitting Conservative Claude Lowther with a swing of 6%. ^[7]

In 1909, he was appointed private secretary to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, Harold Tennant. The Liberal Party lost ground at the January 1910 general election, but Howard held his seat, and was appointed private secretary to the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith.

Another General Election followed 11 months later but this time Howard lost his Eskdale seat to Claude Lowther.^[7]

Out of Parliament, he was keen to make a return as soon as possible. In 1911 a vacancy occurred in the Westbury division of Wiltshire when the sitting Liberal MP resigned to take up a diplomatic appointment. Howard was chosen as the Liberal candidate for the resulting by-election and retained the seat with a slightly reduced majority.^[8]

In 1911, Asquith appointed him Vice-Chamberlain of the Household,^[9] a post he held until 1915.^[10] He then served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1915^[11] to 1916.^[4] In 1916, Asquith was replaced as prime minister by Lloyd George and went into opposition to the Coalition Government. Howard followed Asquith into opposition. As a result, when the Coalition was endorsing candidates for the 1918 General election, at Westbury, endorsement was given to his Unionist opponent George Palmer, who defeated Howard by a margin of 17%.^[12]

At the 1922 general election, he sought a return to Parliament in his old stomping ground of Cumberland when he contested the unionist-held North Cumberland. However, he lost narrowly, by a margin of 1.6%.^[13]

The next year, at the 1923 general election, Howard fought the Luton division of Bedfordshire. The Liberals were experiencing something of a revival nationally, which helped him win the seat from the sitting Unionist Sir John Prescott Hewett.

Another general election followed a year later in 1924, and with the Unionists in the ascendency, he lost his seat. This effectively ended Howard's parliamentary career as he did not contest another parliamentary seat.

Apart from his political career Howard was also a Justice of Peace and a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Naval Division in 1914.^[4] In 1931, he became Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire,^[14] which he remained until his death four years later.^[15]

Marriage and issue

Howard married Hon. Ethel Christian Methuen, daughter of Field Marshal Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen, on 15 May 1915. They had five children. Their three sons all served in the Second World War, but only one survived.^[4]

Dame Christian Howard (1916–1999)
Maj. Mark Paul Geoffrey Howard (10 June 1918 – 2 July 1944), died of wounds received in Normandy
George Howard, Baron Howard of Henderskelfe (1920–1984), severely wounded in action in Burma; later chairman of the BBC
Flt.-Lt. Christopher John Geoffrey Howard (31 May 1922 – 7 October 1944), shot down over Germany
Katharine Cecelia Gabriel (12 December 1930 – 23 October 1979) married Stephen Nicholas Spens son of Sir Will Spens

Ethel Howard died in April 1932, aged 43. Howard died in June 1935, aged 58.^[4]

References

^ "Obituary: Lord Carlisle". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 18 April 1911. p. 9.
^ "The Late Captain C. E. Howard". Dumfries & Galloway Courier and Herald. 5 September 1896. p. 4. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
^ "Society in the Park". The Tatler. 4 April 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 689. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
^ keynessociety.wordpress.com
^ "The Howard family". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b British parliamentary election results, 1885–1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results 1885–1918, Craig, F. W. S. (1974)
^ "No. 28463". The London Gazette. 7 February 1911. p. 945.
^ "No. 29183". The London Gazette. 4 June 1915. p. 5384.
^ "No. 29189". The London Gazette. 11 June 1915. p. 5630.
^ British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, Craig, F. W. S. (1974)
^ British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, Craig
^ "No. 33755". The London Gazette. 22 September 1931. p. 6104.
^ "No. 34182". The London Gazette. 23 July 1935. p. 4772.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Geoffrey Howard

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Claude Lowther	Member of Parliament for Eskdale 1906 – Dec. 1910	Succeeded by Claude Lowther
Preceded by Sir John Fuller	Member of Parliament for Westbury 1911 – 1918	Succeeded by George Palmer
Preceded by John Prescott Hewett	Member of Parliament for Luton 1923 – 1924	Succeeded by Terence O'Connor
Political offices
Preceded by Sir John Fuller, Bt	Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1911–1915	Succeeded by Cecil Beck
Honorary titles
Preceded by Sir Thomas Bell, Bt	Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire 1931–1935	Succeeded by The Lord Bolton

[1] "Obituary: Lord Carlisle". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 18 April 1911. p. 9.

[2] "The Late Captain C. E. Howard". Dumfries & Galloway Courier and Herald. 5 September 1896. p. 4. Retrieved 16 October 2024.

[3] "Society in the Park". The Tatler. 4 April 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 16 October 2024.

[burke-4] Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 689. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.

[5] ynessociety.wordpress.com

[6] "The Howard family". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.

[ReferenceA-7] British parliamentary election results, 1885–1918 (Craig)

[8] British parliamentary election results 1885–1918, Craig, F. W. S. (1974)

[9] "No. 28463". The London Gazette. 7 February 1911. p. 945.

[10] "No. 29183". The London Gazette. 4 June 1915. p. 5384.

[11] "No. 29189". The London Gazette. 11 June 1915. p. 5630.

[12] British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, Craig, F. W. S. (1974)

[13] British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, Craig

[14] "No. 33755". The London Gazette. 22 September 1931. p. 6104.

[15] "No. 34182". The London Gazette. 23 July 1935. p. 4772.

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v t e Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Office
to Henry Campbell-Bannerman	Carr-Gomm 1906–1908
to H. H. Asquith	Howard 1908–1909 Lyell 1908–1915
to David Lloyd George	Barran 1916–1918 D. Davies 1916–1918 Sutherland 1916–1918, 1919–1920 Astor 1918 Sassoon 1920–1922
to Bonar Law	Davidson 1922–1923
to Stanley Baldwin	Herbert 1923–1924, 1924–1927 Rhys 1927–1929 Geoffery-Lloyd 1935 Dugdale 1935–1937
to Ramsay MacDonald	Weir 1924, 1929–1931 R. Morrison 1929–1931 Markham 1931–1932 Glyn 1931–1935 Worthington 1931–1935
to Neville Chamberlain	Douglas-Home 1937–1940
to Winston Churchill	Bracken 1940–1941 Harvie-Watt 1941–1945 Soames 1952–1955
to Clement Attlee	de Freitas 1945–1946 Moyle 1946–1951
to Anthony Eden	Carr 1955 Allan 1955–1956
to Harold Macmillan	Barber 1957–1959 K. Cunningham 1959–1963
to Alec Douglas-Home	Pearson 1963–1964
to Harold Wilson	Fernyhough 1964–1967 Shore 1965–1966 H. Davies 1967–1970 Varley 1968–1969 Hamling 1974–1975 Marks 1975 Tomlinson 1975–1976
to Edward Heath	Kitson 1970–1974
to James Callaghan	J. Cunningham 1976–1977 Stott 1977–1979
to Margaret Thatcher	Gow 1979–1983 Alison 1983–1987 Hamilton 1987–1988 Lennox-Boyd 1988–1990 P. Morrison 1990
to John Major	Bright 1990–1994 Ward 1994–1997
to Tony Blair	Coffey 1997–1998 Grocott 1997–2001 Hanson 2001–2005 Hill 2005–2007
to Gordon Brown	Austin 2007–2008 Smith 2007–2009 Trickett 2008–2010 Snelgrove 2009–2010
to David Cameron	Swayne 2010–2012 Gyimah 2012–2013 Williamson 2013–2016
to Theresa May	Hollingbery 2016–2018 Kennedy 2017–2019 Bowie 2018–2019
to Boris Johnson	Burghart 2019–2021 Heappey 2019 Harrison 2019–2021 Dines 2021–2022 Griffith 2021–2022 Duddridge 2022 Nici 2022 Morrissey 2022 Stafford 2022
to Liz Truss	Webb 2022
to Rishi Sunak	Williams 2022–2024
to Keir Starmer	Twist 2024–