Francis Howard, 5th Baron Howard of Effingham

Francis Howard, 5th Baron Howard of Effingham ( – 30 March 1695) was an English colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1683 to 1692. A member of the Howard family, he was a descendant of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham.

Family He was the son of Sir Charles Howard and Frances Courthope. Francis Howard's paternal grandfather was the first cousin of both Charles Howard, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Nottingham. His maternal grandfather was Sir George Courthope of Whiligh, Sussex. Francis was baptised on 17 September 1643 in Great Bookham near Effingham in Surrey. On 8 July 1673, he married Philadelphia Pelham, daughter of Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet Pelham of Laughton and half-aunt of Thomas Pelham, eventual 1st Baron Pelham of Laughton. His family relocated there in February 1684, and Howard lived primarily at Rosegill plantation in Middlesex County. Howard commenced his duties as Governor on 16 April 1684. (The previous governor, Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper, had departed suddenly in 1683. He was replaced by acting Governor Nicholas Spencer, Culpepper's cousin, agent, and president of the council, until Lord Howard's arrival nine months later.)

On 23 June 1684, Lord Howard sailed from Virginia for Albany, New York with his daughter, Philadelphia, where he and New York Governor Thomas Dongan brokered a July peace treaty with members of the Iroquois Confederacy. The treaty succeeded in ending a series of raids by the westernmost Seneca nation, whose warriors had traveled south to the frontier of Virginia. Although the Iroquois admitted to breaking the Covenant Chain, Howard and Dongan refrained from demanding reparations in hopes that they would continue attacks against the British rivals in New France. While in New York, Howard and his daughter stayed at Dongan's house and spent much of their time socialising. Lady Howard arrived in Virginia, but died the next year on 13 August 1685 at age 31. Their daughter, Margaret Frances, died while accompanying Lady Howard's body, being transported for return to England. Despite his negotiation efforts, Howard was unpopular among Virginians. He ordered that no one in the colony could use a printing press for any reason and tried to gain the power to overturn laws and levy taxes.

Late life Howard left Virginia for England on 20 October 1688. He lived mostly in Little Chelsea in Kensington, then Middlesex.

He had issue: Thomas Howard, 6th Baron Howard of Effingham, married Mary Wentworth, died without male issue Francis Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham.