View source for Charles Howard (serjeant-at-arms)

{{Short description|British parliamentary official and army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]] '''Sir Charles Alfred Howard''', [[Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order|GCVO]], [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO*]] (29 July 1878 – 1958) was a British Army officer and parliamentary official from the aristocratic [[Howard family]]. He served as [[Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Serjeant-at-Arms]] of the [[House of Commons]] from 1935 to 1956.
== Early life ==
Howard was born at Hazelby Manor, [[East Woodhay]], Hampshire, the youngest of four children of the Hon. Greville Theophilus Howard (1836–1880; a younger son of [[Charles Howard, 17th Earl of Suffolk]]) and Lady Audrey Jane Charlotte (died 1926), daughter of [[John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend]]. Howard's sister Joyce was married to [[Doyle baronets#Doyle Baronets, of Buscombe (1828)|Sir Arthur Doyle, 4th Baronet]], and was the mother of [[Diana Spearman]].<ref>''Burke's Peerage'' (2003), vol. 3, pp. 3816, 3926.</ref> His father died when he was 2, and his mother remarried General Sir [[Redvers Henry Buller]]. His half-sister was Dame [[Georgiana Buller]].<ref>[https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-235253 "Buller, Dame (Audrey Charlotte) Georgiana"]. ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who Was Who]]'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 24 July 2021.</ref>
== Career ==
After schooling at [[Eton College]], Howard attended the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], and joined the Army in 1898. He was posted in India until 1899<ref name=":0">"Sir Charles Howard", ''[[The Times]]'' (London), 6 January 1958, p. 14. {{Gale|CS235624998}}</ref> and then, from 1900, in South Africa where he was an [[aide-de-camp]] to his stepfather during the [[Second Boer War]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">[https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-238838 "Howard, Brig. Sir Charles Alfred"], ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who Was Who]]'' (online ed., [[Oxford University Press]], 2021). Retrieved 27 July 2021.</ref> From 1912 to 1916, Howard was a [[Staff (military)|staff officer]].<ref name=":1" /> He served in the First World War; from 1916, he commanded the 16th [[King's Royal Rifle Corps|King's Royal Rifles]],<ref name=":1" /> was injured and received the [[Distinguished Service Order]] in 1917 and received a bar to the DSO in 1918.<ref name=":0" /> He was promoted to [[colonel]] in 1923<ref name=":2">''[https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/90183485?mode=transcription Half-Yearly Army List: 1939, Second Half]'' (London: HMSO, 1939), p. 1330.</ref> and from 1929 to 1932 he commanded the [[162nd (East Midland) Brigade]]; from 1932 to 1935, he then commanded the [[12th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|12th Infantry Brigade]] and Dover Garrison,<ref name=":1" /> and received the freedom of the Borough of [[Dover]] on relinquishing his command.<ref name=":0" /> He retired from the Army in 1936 and was promoted to the [[Titular and honorary rank|honorary rank]] of [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]].<ref name=":2" />
In 1935, George V appointed Howard to the office of [[Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Serjeant-at-Arms]] of the [[House of Commons]], which had previously been held by Admiral Sir [[Colin Richard Keppel|Colin Keppel]].<ref name=":0" /> Howard built a reputation for upholding traditions and was well-regarded for having a "genial personality".<ref name=":0" /> He was appointed a Knight Commander of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] in 1944 and promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 1957, the year after he retired from his office.<ref name=":0" />
== Retirement and personal life ==
Howard died on 5 January 1958.<ref name=":0" /> In 1908, he had married Miriam Eleanore Dansey, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Mashiter Dansey and his wife the Hon. Eleanor Gifford, daughter of [[Robert Gifford, 2nd Baron Gifford]];<ref name="burke">''Burke's Peerage'' (2003), vol. 3, p. 3816.</ref>{{Refn|group="n"|Miriam Dansey's brother was thus the intelligence officer Sir [[Claude Dansey]].<ref>[[M. R. D. Foot]], [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-37340 "Dansey, Sir Claude Edward Marjoribanks"], ''[[The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2008). Retrieved 24 July 2021.</ref>}} she died in 1969. They had two children, a daughter Diana who died young, and a son Henry Redvers Greville Howard (1911–1978), an army officer and the father of [[Greville Howard, Baron Howard of Rising]].<ref name="burke" /><ref>[https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-44486 "Howard of Rising, Baron, (Greville Patrick Charles Howard)"], ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 24 July 2021.</ref>
== References ==
=== Notes ===
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=== Citations ===
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{{s-bef|before=[[Colin Richard Keppel|Sir Colin Keppel]] }}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons|Serjeant-at-Arms<br/>of the House of Commons]]|years=1935–1957}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ivor Hughes|Sir Ivor Hughes]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Charles}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army brigadiers]]
[[Category:Serjeants at arms of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps officers]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Howard family (English aristocracy)|Charles]]