William Howard, 8th Earl of Wicklow

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The Right Honourable William Cecil James Philip John Paul Howard (1902-78) was the 8th Earl of Wicklow.

He was the only child of Ralph Francis Forward-Howard, 7th Earl of Wicklow (24 December 1877-11 October 1946) and the Countess of Wicklow, formerly Lady Gladys Mary Hamilton (10 December 1880-12 March 1917). His maternal grandparents were the 2nd Duke of Abercorn and Lady Mary Anna Curzon-Howe.

He was known as Viscount Clonmore until succeeding to the Earldom in 1946.

He was educated at Eton College, Magdalen College, Oxford and St Stephen's House, Oxford and ordained deacon and priest in the Anglican Communion. Among his Oxford associates figure Glyn Simon and John Betjeman. He worked for the Magdalen Mission in Somers Town. Having been a zealous Anglo-Catholic, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1932 and thereafter lived as a layman. He was disinherited by his father and banished from the family home on Sundays because he was thought to be an embarrassment on account of his attending Mass with the servants, who were Catholics. During the Second World War he served as a Captain in the Royal Fusiliers.

On 2 September 1959 he married Eleanor Butler, a member of the Seanad Éireann.

[edit] Publications

Pierre Barbet, The corporal passion of Jesus Christ tr. the Earl of Wicklow (Dublin: Clonmore & Reynolds, 1950, 1954, 1955)

The Earl of Wicklow, More about Dom Marmion: a study of his writings together with a chapter from an unpublished work and a biographical sketch (Dublin: Clonmore & Reynolds; London: Burns, Oates, & Washbourne, 1950)

R. P. H. Perroy, The mass explained to children, tr. the Earl of Wicklow (Dublin: Clonmore & Reynolds, 1956)

The Earl of Wicklow, Fireside Fusilier with an introduction by Evelyn Waugh (Dublin: Clonmore & Reynolds; London: Hollis & Carter, 1958; Derby: Citadel Press, 1970)