Catherine was born in
Lambeth in or about 1523, although the exact date is unknown. An estimated date has been determined from the wills of family members, the known birth order of her and her siblings in various dated records, and the age range of her ladies-in-waiting, being in the same age group and often, same past household of the
Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, where Catherine would spend a large portion of her childhood and adolescence. 1522 has also been suggested, based on the remarks of the French ambassador to England in 1541, who had met Catherine on many occasions in 1540 and 1541. The general consensus among historians is that 1523 is the most likely date; 1522 is also credible, but Victorian suggestions of 1518 or 1525 are both unsustainable. Catherine did not have a good start in life, mostly due to the routinely poor decisions of her father,
Edmund Howard. Being the third son of a prominent family, Edmund's opportunities were limited to relying on the generosity of his wealthier family members and his own ability to pave his way. He was both overly proud and a spendthrift. His insult to the King and further events would continue to devolve and slowly ensnare him, and by extension, his family. Edmund developed a gambling addiction that meant the constant threat of debtors' prison, and he went into hiding on multiple occasions. In his desperate 1527 letter to
Thomas Wolsey he states, "Humbly I beseech your grace to be my good lord, for without your gracious help I am utterly undone. Sir, so it is that I am so far in danger of the King's Laws by reason of the debt that I am in, that I dare not go abroad, nor come in mine own house, and am fain to absent me from my wife and my poor children ... Sir there is no help but, through your grace and your good mediation to the King's Grace." If Cardinal Wolsey did assist the family in response to the letter written in 1527, which there is little evidence of, the funds arrived piecemeal and were probably not enough. The lowest point for the family came between 1524 and 1531, the period which roughly corresponds with Catherine Howard's birth and early years. The image this paints is of a girl likely neglected and potentially unwanted, as her birth meant a future dowry to come up with money for. Generally, Catherine's young life was filled with uncertainty and instability, so it is understandable as to why she has been often described as barely literate and generally unlearned. She clearly was not a high priority for her father, still less her education and future prospects. In 1531, help came to Catherine indirectly through the intervention of her cousin and soon-to-be queen,
Anne Boleyn, whom Edmund approached regarding a position; he was assigned to be the Comptroller at Calais. Whether due to her mother Joyce's death in about 1528, her family's financial problems, or Catherine nearing the age suitable for wardship, Catherine's family was broken up in 1531, when she was about 8 years of age. Two of her older half-sisters were married off, and both Catherine and her brother Henry were sent to be wards of
Agnes Howard, her step-grandmother and the Dowager
Duchess of Norfolk. The duchess managed large households at
Chesworth House in
Horsham,
Sussex, and at Norfolk House in
Lambeth where dozens of attendants, along with her many wards—usually the children of aristocratic but poor relatives—resided. While sending young children to be educated and trained in aristocratic households was common among European nobles at the time, supervision at both Chesworth House and Lambeth was apparently lax. The Dowager Duchess was often at Court and seems to have had little direct involvement in the upbringing of her wards and young female attendants. In the Duchess's household at Horsham, in around 1536, Catherine began music lessons with two teachers, one of whom was Henry Mannox, and they began a relationship. Mannox's exact age at the time is unknown. It has recently been stated that he was in his late thirties, perhaps 36, but this is not supported by Catherine's biographers. Evidence exists that Mannox was not yet married, and it would have been highly unusual for someone from his background at the time to not be married by his mid-thirties. He married sometime in the late 1530s, perhaps in 1539, and there is also some evidence that he was the same age as two other men serving in the household, including his cousin Edward Waldegrave, who was in his late teens or early twenties between 1536 and 1538. This evidence indicates that Mannox too was in his early to mid-twenties in 1536. The details and dates of this relationship are debated among modern historians. The most popular theory, first put forward in 2004 by
Retha Warnicke, was that the relationship between them was abusive, with Mannox
grooming and preying on Catherine between 1536 and 1538; this is expanded upon in detail by Conor Byrne. Other biographers, like Gareth Russell, believe that Mannox's interactions with Catherine took place over a much shorter time, that Mannox was roughly the same age as her, but that "their relationship was nonetheless inappropriate, on several levels." He believes Catherine was increasingly repulsed by Mannox's pressure to have sex with her and was angered by his gossiping with servants about the details of what had gone on between them. Mannox and Catherine both confessed during her adultery inquisitions as the wife of King Henry that they had engaged in sexual contact, but not actual
coitus. When questioned, Catherine was quoted as saying, "At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox, being but a young girl, I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body, which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require." Catherine severed contact with Mannox in 1538, most likely in the spring. It is not true, as is sometimes stated, that this was because she began to spend more time at the Dowager Duchess's mansion in Lambeth, as Lambeth was Mannox's home parish and he also married here, perhaps in 1538 or 1539. He was still living in Lambeth in 1541. Shortly afterward, Catherine was pursued by
Francis Dereham, a secretary of the Dowager Duchess. They allegedly became lovers, addressing each other as "husband" and "wife". Dereham also entrusted Catherine with various wifely duties, such as keeping his money when he was away on business. Many of Catherine's roommates among the Dowager Duchess's maids of honour and attendants knew of the relationship, which apparently ended in 1539 when the Dowager Duchess found out. Despite this, Catherine and Dereham may have parted with intentions to marry upon his return from
Ireland, agreeing to a precontract of marriage. If indeed they exchanged vows before having sexual intercourse, they would have been considered married in the eyes of the Church. ==Arrival at court==