William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford ( born November 30, 1614 Westminster, † December 29, 1680 in the Tower Liberties ) was a British landowner and Royalist from the family of Howard. He was tried and executed the group of participants of the Popish plot. In 1929 he was appointed by Pope Pius XI. beatified as a Catholic martyr.
Howard was the son of Anglican Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel and grandson of Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. William Howard grew up as a member of the Church of England, but married in 1637 to the dismay of his family Catholic.
His bride was Mary, sister of Henry Stafford, 5th Baron Stafford. Despite the Catholic marriage succeeded Howard's family, through their influence at the court in 1640 to secure him the title of Viscount Stafford, who had Roger Stafford, 6th Baron Stafford abandon because of poverty. Between 1641 and 1660 fluctuated between Howard the Netherlands, England and Rome, and was in numerous, mostly triggered by inheritance disputes disputes within the family, but also woven into the turmoil of the time. After the Stuart Restoration in 1660 he returned to England completely and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society. He campaigned for the repeal of the anti- Catholic laws, but otherwise remained politically unremarkable.
1678 accused him of Titus Oates, being a participant in the Popish plot and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Although in subsequent years, the fictitious nature of the conspiracy and its instrumentalization was obvious, Howard was sentenced to death during a public upsurge anti-Catholic sentiments in November 1680. His main witness for the defense, Richard Gerard of Hilderstone, had been "just in case " arrested, so as not to compromise the objective judgment. On December 29, 1680 was William Howard Viscount Stafford beheaded on Tower Hill, and in consequence as his grandfather in the church of St. Peter ad Vincula buried on the grounds of the Tower. Unlike his grandfather, his bones are buried there until today.
The title of Baron Stafford was canceled after Howard's death, but succeeded in the Howard family in 1824 to gain it back. George William Stafford Jerningham, 8th Baron Stafford ( 1771-1851 ), several great-grandson of William Howard, was a Baron Stafford from the Howard family.