Son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his second wife, Agnes Tilney. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and came to court at an early age. He was liked and trusted by Henry VIII and was with him at Boulonge; and at Anne Boleyn coronation was Deputy Earl Marshal; and he was sent on missions to Scotland and France; but in Dec 1541 he was charged with abetting his relative Catherine Howard, and was convicted of treason, but pardoned. From Oct 1552 to Dec 1553 he was Lord Deputy and Governor of Calais, and 14 Nov 1553 Lord High Admiral; and in Oct of that year Privy Councillor under Edward VI. William was made Knight of the Garter in 1554. Created Baron Howard of Effingham 11 Mar 1553/4 for his defence of London during the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt against Queen Mary. The manor of Effingham (Surrey) had been granted to him by Edward VI in 1551.

Perhaps his arguments with the Queen saved the life of princess Elizabeth after that affair. He befriended Elizabeth, but his popularity with the Navy saved him from Mary resentment. He became Elizabeth's principal protector during the months that followed. By the next year his loyalty to the princess made him a suspected person; the Imperial Ambassador wrote to his master that it was "highly probable" that Howard knew of and consented to plots in which Elizabeth was believed to be involved. In Apr 1555, he urged in Council that her restrictions be removed and that she be brought back to Court. His obvious support of the heir finally brought him the loss of his great office of Lord Admiral. The popularity that Elizabeth and her cause brought him made Howard a dangerous enemy, so Mary found it expedient to mollify him with a pension and finally with appointment as Lord Chamberlain.

When Elizabeth became queen he had great influence with her and filled several important posts. He was reappointed Lord Chamberlain and resumed his diplomatic role. Early in 1559 Lord Howard, accompanied with his eldest son, Charles, went as negotiator to the peace conference at Cateau-Cambresis. He supported the Queen against the northern earls in the rebellion of 1569 and in 1572, ceased to be Lord Chamberlain on becoming Lord Privy Seal.

William Howard was one of the considerable body of Elizabethan officeholders who went to their graves complaining that they were being driven into beggary by their sacrifices to the Queen's service. No doubt the complaints were uttered partly in the hope that travail would be rewarded and because their expense and responsability stood as evidence of the Queen's trust. But with Lord William the whimperings of sacrifice seem to have been justified. He received pensions and lands and had access to the Crown which should have brought a shower of gifts from office-seekers. But his expenses at court were high, his large family included several daughters to be married off, and the offices in his direct gift were not many. As a result he was never able to build more than a modesdy comfortable landed estate. From his father he had lands worth not quite £100 a year, but all except the manor of Little Bookham in Surrey had quickly been sold. From Henry VIII he had received Reigate Priory -which became one of the principal family residences and stayed in the hands of his descendants through the seventeenth century- Eastbrooke and Southwick manors in Sussex, West Humble in Surrey, and the priory of Barnstaple in Devon. From Edward VI, Howard got Great Bookham (an important Surrey manor), the smaller manor of Effingham from which he took his title, and a moiety of Reigate Manor. Mary gave him lands in Devonshire and Somersetshire, which he sold, and Elizabeth added the manor of Kingswood Liberty. In 1560 Howard bought Blechingley (valued at £45 a year), with another important residence and influence over a parliamentary borough, and lands at Lingfield, Hackstal, and Billeshurst. The properties, most of them in Surrey, were worth altogether about £400 a year. Salaries and pensions provided him with as much again, but he found that his total income of £86i 6s. 8d. was totally inadequate to meet his needs. In a document prepared for the Queen about 1565, he said that his expenses exceeded £l,500 a year without reckoning anything "put in to my persse for to spend in hawkyng and hontyng & in rewards gyvyn for my pleasiuir" or for repairs to his house or for the dowry of two hundred marks a year for his eldest daughter. His expense for going on progress ran to two hundred pounds a year, and gifts and rewards at Christmas and New Year's cost another hundred pounds. He was £2,OOO in debt and saw no way to recover himself or to provide a living for his younger children without a substancial gift from the Queen. Of course, William Howard may have been exaggerating the disparity between income and expense in the hope of maximizing the grant to relieve it. But certainly he thought that he was being ruined in his service to the crown and that the Queen should lift him up from poverty. In the next few years, he did make some kind of settlement with his creditors without selling any more lands, but he remained relatively poor for the rest of his life. There is a story that during his last years he begged to be made an Earl but was refused because he lacked the means to support such a dignity.

Lord William's friendship with the Queen and his recognized fidelity to her interests during difficult times had created a fund of good will upon which his son Charles could hope to draw. But it might also be possible to argue that during his last years Lord William, by occupying one of the major offices, may have kept Charles from receiving important preferment. Charles's father, however, was evidently declining by 1570, which mar have meant that Charles took over some partion of the chamberlain's duties. By the end of 1572, Lord William was no longer able to carry on and gave up his staff. But because he still needed any salary and perquisites the crown could supply him, he was made Lord Privy Seal, an officer whose responsibilities had become insignificant. He condnued to decline, and late in Jan 1573, he died "full of years and honour, being of most approved fidelity and unshaken courage". He was buried, in accordance with a will drawn up in 1569, in the church at Reigate.

By the terms of the will, he did not leave his son a rich man. Most of his properties had been settled by another instrument, which does not survive; the will mentions only the manor of Esher, which was to go to Charles along with his robes and collar of the Garter (a grant contrary to the statutes of the order). The younger son, William, got a small money grant, and the rest of the estate after debts were paid went to Lady Howard, who was asked to see that dowries were pro vided for daughters still unmarried. The language used concerning Esher implies that the manor was in Lord Howard's possession, but it had been given by Mary to the bishops of Winchester, who still held it in 1573. What Howard may have had was a promised lease, since Charles did get a lease in 1578 by threatening that if Bishop Horne would not co-operate he would "compass his object in some other way, without any regard for the Bishop's feelings". From sources other than the will it is known that the lands at Lingfield and Great Bookham were settled on the younger son and that Reigate and its lands went to the jointure of the widow. When she died in 1581, Charles Howard paid a livery fine of £58 3s. 6d. for delivery of lands into his possession.

Sources:

Collins's Peerage

Kenny, R.: Elizabeth's Admiral

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