Caroline Howe

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(b. May 17, 1721, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire – d. June 29, 1814, Hanslope, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire )

Gender: F

Caroline Howe (1721-1814) was one of the ten children of Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe (1699-1735) and Charlotte von Kielmansegg. She was the sister of Admiral Richard Howe and General Sir William Howe. Her other siblings included John Howe, Juliana Howe, Mary Howe (who married General Sir William Augustus Pitt) and Charlotte Howe (who married Robert Fettiplace of Swinbrook). In 1742 she married John Howe (1707-1769) of Hanslope in Buckinghamshire, who was a member of the group surrounding Frederick, Prince of Wales. She corresponded with Benjamin Franklin and Sarah Trimmer, and her extensive correspondence with Countess Spencer is in the British Library. Elizabeth Carter (Carter to Montagu 2nd November 1771) refers to the death of another brother of Mrs Howe, whom Pennington identifies in a footnote as Thomas Howe, who died unmarried. According to History of Parliament Online, Thomas Howe (1728-1771) was the MP for Northampton in the Spencer interest, though there is no record that he ever spoke in the House of Commons. It gives his date of death as 14th November 1771. Caroline Howe was described in her old age as “a very extraordinary woman, born in 1720 and still living in Grafton-street; who, though deaf, still talks, reads, writes, and plays at cards, at ninety-three, with all the spirit and life of a girl, dresses in powdered hair, triple ruffles, furbelowed gowns, and is a fine model of the costume of the old Court. She has never married since the death of Mr Howe, and it does not appear that she ever had any children.” [Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, 1815, Vol 9, p. 527]

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Mentioned in 8 letters

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