He was the younger son of
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and
Lady Elizabeth Stafford. In 1526 his father acquired the wardship of Elizabeth Marney, daughter and co-heir of
John Marney, 2nd Baron Marney and three years later purchased the right of her marriage from the
master of the king's wards. The marriage of Thomas and Elizabeth took place at Norfolk House, Lambeth on 14 May 1533. Through this marriage Thomas acquired a number of manors in Dorset. In late 1546, both his father and his elder brother
Henry, Earl of Surrey were arrested for high treason, mainly because Surrey had quartered the royal arms of
Edward the Confessor on his own coat of arms, which King
Henry VIII interpreted as an attempt by the Howards to usurp the crown of his son and heir,
Prince Edward. As a result of the fall of his father and brother, Thomas lost his status as a peer. Both the Norfolk and Surrey were tried for high treason and sentenced to death. Only Surrey went to the scaffold, being executed on 19 January, 1547. The execution of their father, scheduled for 28 January, did not take place because Henry VIII died in the early hours of that same day. Thomas was granted a general pardon and was restored to the rank of baron by the new King Edward VI. His father remained a prisoner in the
Tower of London, where Thomas was allowed to visit him in April 1551. The elderly 3rd Duke was released and pardoned shortly after the accession of the Roman Catholic Queen
Mary I in July 1553. He served as
Custos Rotulorum of Dorset and
Vice-Admiral of Dorset. In the latter role he was ineffective in putting down piracy, in which his kinsman Sir Richard Rogers of
Bryanston was directly involved. On 13 January 1559, he was raised to the peerage as
Viscount Howard of Bindon by
Elizabeth I. He took his title from
Bindon Abbey in
Dorset, which he had acquired with other property from the death of
Thomas Poynings, 1st Baron Poynings and his wife Katherine without an heir. In the 1560s he further extended his estate in Dorset by acquiring
Buckland Newton,
Cattistock and
Marnhull from
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. In Elizabeth's reign he apparently adopted a position of outward conformity, but remained under suspicion concerning his religious views. In 1562 he accompanied
Bishop Jewel on the ecclesiastical
Visitation of the Western diocese, but was omitted by the
Privy Council from the commission set up to search for Jesuits and seminary priests in Dorset. However, he was trusted to search the house linked to the Jesuit
James Bosgrave in
Bere Regis. In 1573 he had prevented
John Stourton, 9th Baron Stourton from going abroad for religious reasons. Despite the execution of his nephew
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk for treason, Thomas's loyalty to Elizabeth I was never called into question and until the end of his life he was charged with the defence of Dorset's coast. In 1567 the poet
George Turberville included a dedication to Thomas in a translation of
Ovid. During the last five years of his life he was engaged in a bitter feud with his son and heir Henry. He died in 1582 and was buried at Marnhull. ==Marriages and issue==