Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 28.djvu/78

 Howard 174). In the ensuing year he helped to discover the Gunpowder plot (ib. ii. 171). Howard became M.A. of Cambridge on 31 June 1605, lord-lieutenant of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire on 18 July 1605, M.A. of Oxford on 30 Aug. 1605 (, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 309), captain of the band of gentlemen pensioners in November 1605, which post he was allowed to hand over to his son Theophilus [q.v.] on 11 July 1614, councillor of Wales in 1608, high steward of Ipswich on 6 June 1609, keeper in reversion of Somersham Chace, Huntingdonshire, on 26 April, joint lord-lieutenant of Dorsetshire and town of Poole on 5 July 1611, keeper of the forest of Braydon, Wiltshire, on 21 March, a commissioner of the treasury on 16 June 1612, and lord-lieutenant of Dorsetshire on 19 Feb. 1613. In this year, with the rest of the Howards, he supported the scheme for the divorce of his daughter Frances from Robert Devereux, third earl of Essex [q.v.] On the death of his uncle, Henry, earl of Northampton, Howard was elected chancellor of the university of Cambridge on 8 July (, iii. 63). He prevailed on the king to visit the university in March 1615. On that occasion he resided at St. John's College, and is said to have spent in hospitality 1,000l. a day. His wife held receptions at Magdalene College (, Univ. of Cambr. ii. 514, 518; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1611-18, p. 278).

On 11 July 1614 Howard was constituted lord high treasurer of England, and formally held office until 19 July 1619. In November a determined attempt was made to implicate him in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. He was the father-in-law of Somerset, and to some extent responsible for his fate; the king at all events thought that Suffolk wished to escape a full investigation (cf., Great Oyer of Poisoning). On 1 Feb. 1618 he was made custos rotulorum of Suffolk, on the following 14 April was commissioned with others to discover concealed lands, encroachments, &c., and to arrange with pensioners of the crown for an exchange of their pensions for a certain portion of these lands (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1611-18, p. 534). On 23 June of the same year he became for a second time joint-commissioner to banish Jesuits and seminary priests.

In the autumn of 1618 grave irregularities were discovered at the treasury. Howard was suspended from his office. He was accused of having embezzled a great part of the money received from the Dutch for the cautionary towns, with defrauding the king of 240,000l. in jewels, with committing frauds in the alum business, and with extorting money from the king's subjects. The countess was indicted for extorting money from persons having business at the treasury, chiefly through the agency of Sir John Bingley, remembrancer of the exchequer. At first Howard talked boldly about publishing the real reasons of his suspension (ib. Dom. 1611-1618, p. 594), but as the time for his trial drew near he offered his private submission (ib. Dom. 1619-23, p. 60). After eleven days' hearing in the Star-chamber (October-November 1619), the earl and countess were fined 30,000l., commanded to restore all money wrongfully extorted, and were sentenced to be imprisoned apart in the Tower during pleasure (ib. Dom. 1619-23, pp. 88, 94, 96). Howard was popularly credited with having acted under the influence of his wife (ib. Dom. 1619-23, p. 93). They were released after ten days' imprisonment, but as a condition of their enlargement their sons, Lord de Walden and Sir Thomas Howard, were dismissed for a short time from their places at court (ib. Dom. 1619-23, pp. 101, 111). Howard pleaded inability to pay his fine, and a commission was issued for the Archbishop of Canterbury and others to inquire into his estate. Probably to defeat this inquiry, he made a great part of it over to his son-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury, and his brother, Sir W. Howard (, Hist. of England, iv. 47-8). The king threatened the earl with another Star-chamber bill, but Howard appeased him by making humble submission, and promising to pay all, though he was fully 50,000l. in debt (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1619-23, pp. 115, 116). The king and Buckingham stood sponsors for his grandson, James Howard, afterwards third earl of Suffolk (1619-1688) [q.v.], and in July 1620 he was received into favour again, and his fine, reduced to 7,000l., was made over to John, viscount Haddington (ib. Dom. 1619-23, pp. 170, 179). In 1621 Suffolk with Lord Saye and Sele strongly pressed that Bacon should be brought to the bar of the house in the beginning of the investigation into the chancellor's offences. Suffolk was probably inspired by revenge for his own treatment by Bacon in similar circumstances. A little later in the session he attempted to mediate between Arundel and Spencer in the discussion as to Yelverton's case.

In 1621 Howard became high steward of Exeter, and endeavoured to ingratiate himself with Buckingham by marrying, in December 1623, his seventh son, Edward, afterwards Lord Howard of Escrick (d. 1675) [q.v.], to Mary, fifth daughter of Sir John Boteler (ib. Dom. 1623-5, pp. 132, 134). On 9 May 1625 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of 