John Howard

Sir John Howard (c. 1366-1437), of Wiggenhall and East Winch, in Norfolk, England, was a landowner, soldier, courtier, administrator and politician. His grandson was John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, the great-grandfather of two queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the six wives of King Henry VIII. Origins Born in about 1366, he was the son and heir of Sir Robert Howard (died 1389), of Wiggenhall and East Winch, by his wife Margaret Scales (died 1416), daughter of Robert de Scales, 3rd Baron Scales, by his wife Katherine d'Ufford, a daughter of Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk and a sister and co-heiress of William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk. His grandfather Sir John Howard (died 1364), had served as Admiral of the Northern Fleet from 1335 to 1337 and had married Alice de Boys, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert de Boys, of Fersfield in Norfolk. The founder of the family was Sir William Howard (d.1308) of East Winch, a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. The title Earl of Suffolk was later acquired by his descendant Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (1561–1626), KG, the second son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and survives today as a cadet branch of the Howard family. Career By 1380 he was married to an heiress and had been knighted by March 1387, when he served at sea in the fleet commanded by Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel that fought the French and their allies at the Battle of Margate. In 1389 both his father and his father-in-law died, bringing him most of the paternal lands as well as those inherited by his wife, which he retained for life when she died in 1391. These estates gave him not only a considerable income but also local influence.