Howard, Henry, Earl of Surrey (1517 -1547)

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the poet, was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. When his father succeeded to the Dukedom, Henry Howard received the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey. Received at court at an early age, he was made a Knight of the Bath, and served with the army in France. He married, before April 1532, Frances, daughter of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. In 1541, he was made a Knight of the Garter, Frequently in trouble for his mischievousness and arrogance, he made mortal enemies of the Seymours, and in 1547 was arraigned for treason, for placing the arms of Brotherton in the first quarter as in the stamp, and also for impaling the arms of Edward the Confessor and other foolish, but essentially trivial, acts. He was beheaded on Tower Hill 19 January 1547. A similar stamp, probably from the same stamp cutter, was used by Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, and the two are possibly the earliest non royal English heraldic stamps.