Bernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk

Bernard Edward Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk (21 November 1765 – 16 March 1842), was a British peer.

Early life Howard was the son of Henry Howard (1713–1787) by his wife Juliana Molyneux, daughter of Sir William Molyneux, 6th Baronet (died 1781), of Teversall, Nottinghamshire, High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire 1737. His great-grandfather, Bernard Howard, was a younger son of Henry Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel. He was the older brother of chemical engineer Edward Charles Howard.

Career Howard succeeded to the title of Duke of Norfolk in 1815 upon the death of his cousin, Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk.

An ardent Roman Catholic, like most of his family, he strongly supported Catholic Emancipation, and gave offence to his Protestant neighbours by giving a banquet to celebrate the passage of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.

He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1803. In 1834, the Duke of Norfolk was invested by King William IV into the Order of the Garter.

Personal life On 23 April 1789, he married Lady Elizabeth Belasyse (1770–1819), daughter of Henry Belasyse, 2nd Earl Fauconberg, and the former Charlotte Lamb. She was a first cousin of Lord Melbourne and Lady Cowper. Before the couple divorced five years later in May 1794, they were the parents of:

Family

Ancestry

Family tree