# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howard, Kenneth Alexander

​HOWARD, KENNETH ALEXANDER, first Earl of Effingham, of the second creation (1767–1845), born 29 Nov. 1767, was only child of Captain Henry Howard of Arundel, Sussex, by his second wife, Maria, second daughter and co-heiress of Kenneth Mackenzie, viscount Fortrose, eldest son of William, fifth earl of Seaforth. He was descended from Sir William Howard of Lingfield (d. 1600), who was second son of William Howard [q. v.], first Baron Howard of Effingham. After acting as page of honour to George III, he was gazetted to an ensigncy In the Coldstream guards, 21 April 1786, and served with his regiment in Flanders from February 1793 to May 1795, being wounded at St. Amand 8 May 1793. He was promoted lieutenant and captain 25 April 1793 (acting as adjutant of his regiment from December 1793 to December 1797), captain-lieutenant and lieutenant-colonel 30 Dec. 1797, and brigade-major to the foot-guards 17 April 1798, in which capacity he served throughout the Irish rebellion of that year and the Duke of York's expedition to Holland in 1799. He was present in every action of the last-named campaign. He was gazetted captain and lieutenant-colonel 25 July 1799, and was connected with the foreign troops in the English service as deputy inspector-general, inspector-general, and commandant of the foreign depôt. This latter office he resigned on being appointed colonel and aide-de-camp to the king, 1 Jan. 1805. He became second major of his regiment 4 Aug. 1808, and major-general 25 July 1810. In January 1811 he joined the army in the Peninsula, being placed in command of a brigade of the first division in succession to Sir William Erskine (Wellington Supplementary Despatches, xiii. 544). In the following July he was transferred to the second division, which he commanded as senior officer under Lord Hill till August 1812. In November of that year he was selected to command the 1st brigade of guards in the first division, and was in entire command of that division under Sir J. Hope from June 1813 to the end of the war. He was present at the battles of Fuentes d'Onoro (5 May 1811), Arroyo de Molinos (28 Oct. 1811), and Almaraz (19 May 1812), and was on the two latter occasions specially commended for gallantry in Lord Hill's despatches (Wellington Despatches, viii. 381-3, 388, ix. 184-5), and was thanked by the home government (Sidney, Life of Lord Hill, pp. 199-200). He took continuous part in the operations on the frontier, 1813-14, and received the medal and one clasp for Vittoria and the passage of the Nive. On the conclusion of the war he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Portsmouth, with command of the south-western district. The duties of this post prevented his joining the army in Belgium, but after Waterloo he was placed in command of the first division of the British army during the occupation of Paris, with the local rank of lieutenant-general. On the death of his kinsman Richard, fourth earl of Effingham, 11 Dec.1816,Howard succeeded as eleventh baron Howard of Effingham, and took his seat in the House of Lords 30 May 1817 (House of Lords' Journals, li. p. 243). He resigned his command at Portsmouth on his promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general 12 Aug. 1819. On 24 Oct. 1816 he had been appointed colonel of the 70th regiment, from which, on 30 Jan. 1832, he was transferred to the colonelcy of the 3rd (buffs), and on 10 Jan. 1837 he became full general. He was created K.C.B. 5 Jan. 1815, and G.C.B. 17 March 1820. He was also a commander of the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword. Howard took no prominent part in politics, but acted generally with the whig party, and in 1820 and 1834 seconded the address at the opening of the session (Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, new ser. i. 17, 3rd ser. xxi. 8). In July 1821 he acted as deputy earl marshal of England for the coronation of George IV. It is said that during the ceremony in Westminster Hall his horse, which had been hired from Astley's circus, displayed a tendency to rear instead of to back, and had to be ignominiously pulled out by its tail (Lord Colchester, Diary, iii. 233, but see Notes and Queries, 7th ser. vii. 482, viii. 113, 175, 254-5, and Sir W. Fraser's Wellington (1889), pp. 41-4). On 27 Jan. 1837 the earldom of Effingham was revived in his favour. He took his seat as earl in the House of Lords 21 April 1837 (House of Lords' Journals, lxix. p. 215). Howard died at Brighton 13 Feb. 1845, and was buried in the family vault at All Saints' Church, Rotherham, Yorkshire, where a ​monument was erected to his memory. There is also a memorial tablet to him in the Guards' Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London.
The following portraits of him are preserved at the family seat, Tusmore, Bicester, Oxfordshire: 1. An oil painting by Oliver in aide-de-camp's uniform. 2. A water-colour by Tidy in general's uniform. 3. A water-colour in his robes as deputy earl marshal. There is also a portrait of him in the same dress in Sir George Nayler's 'Ceremonial of the Coronation of George IV,' 1839.
He married, 27 Nov. 1800, Lady Charlotte Primrose, eldest daughter of Neil, third earl of Rosebery, by whom he had five sons and four daughters, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry. His widow remarried, 30 April 1858, Thomas Holmes, a scripture reader, of Brighton, and died 17 Sept. 1864.
G. F. R. B.