Howard, Edward, 1793-1841 (Author)
Dates
- Existence: 1793 - 1841
Biography
Edward Howard was a novelist, born in Reading to Elizabeth Bellasis (d. 1819) and Bernard Edward Howard (1765-1842), heir of the eleventh Duke of Norfolk. The marriage was forced upon Elizabeth, and she eloped with her childhood sweetheart Richard Bingham (1764-1839) whilst still pregnant. Howard was subsequently never acknowledged but was brought up by foster parents in Lambeth.
In 1808 Howard joined the HMS Aurora and served at least two years. Many of his novels drew upon this naval experience. In 1823 he married a daughter of William Williams and they had a daughter and two sons. He worked variously as a teacher, painter and a writer whilst his wife kept a school. In 1833 Frederick Marryat made him sub-editor of The Metropolitan Magazine and he became full editor three years later. The semi-autobiographical Life of a Sub-Editor was first serialised in the magazine and was published whole as Rattlin, the Reefer to great success in 1836. Howard published several other novels, including The Old Commodore in 1837, although none replicated Rattlin's success.
In 1838 Howard's first wife died, and on 4 March 1839 he married Ann Roper with whom he had another daughter. He died in London in December 1841 of internal haemorrhaging. His final novel, Sir Henry Morgan, the Buccaneer was published posthumously and critically acclaimed.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Obituary of author Edward Howard printed in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, January 1842
A single page of Colburn's New Monthly Magazine and Humorist with the obituary of Edward Howard outlined in ink by a manuscript hand. Howard was an acclaimed novelist and the Editor of The Metropolitan Magazine from 1836, in which many of Crawford's songs and poems were published.