He was the son of
William Howard, Viscount Andover (son of
Henry Howard, 11th Earl of Suffolk) and Lady Mary Finch, daughter of
Heneage Finch, 2nd Earl of Aylesford. Educated at
Eton and
Magdalen College, Oxford, he succeeded his grandfather as
Earl of Suffolk in 1757. He was awarded a
MA degree from Oxford in 1759 and a
DCL degree in 1761. He was
High Steward of Malmesbury from 1763 to 1767, and Deputy
Earl Marshal from 1763 to 1765. In 1771, Suffolk was appointed a
Privy Counsellor (PC) and briefly served as
Lord Privy Seal before becoming
Secretary of State for the Northern Department under
Lord North from 1771 to 1779. In this capacity, he secured the use of
Hessian and
Hanoverian mercenaries to help suppress the
American Revolution. In the same capacity he helped to secure the survival of
Sweden as an independent nation by counteracting
Russia's plan to undo the
Revolution of
Gustavus III in 1772. During the 1770s he was associated with the
Bedfordite faction as a member of the
Bloomsbury Gang. He was made a
Knight of the Garter (KG) in 1778. Lord Suffolk died on 7 March 1779; his posthumous son Henry succeeded him for two days in August. He is buried in Charlton Church, Wiltshire, together with his first wife. ==Family==