Surrey, Henry Howard, Lord

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Surrey, Henry Howard, Lord (c.1517–47). Grandson of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, the victor of Flodden. In high favour at the court of Henry VIII, he was made KB, given the Garter and, at one time, considered as a possible husband for the Princess Mary. He served against the Scots in 1542, then against the French, and 1545–6 was governor of Boulogne. But in December 1546 he was accused of treason for quartering the arms of Edward the Confessor and beheaded on Tower Hill on 19 January 1547. His father, also attainted, escaped execution when Henry died on 28 January. Surrey, though clearly proud and indiscreet, was victim of Henry's senile suspiciousness and the machinations of his rival the earl of Hertford (Somerset). He was a poet of some note.

J. A. Cannon

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