Lord William Howard (19 December 1563 – 7 October 1640) was an English nobleman and antiquary, sometimes known as "Belted Will" or "Bauld (bold) Will".
After his father's death, William and his siblings Philip, Thomas and Margaret were left in the care of their uncle, Henry Howard, who also he took charge of their education.
His paternal grandparents were Lord Henry Howard, styled Earl of Surrey (the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk) and Lady Frances de Vere (third daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford and, his second wife, Elizabeth Trussell, daughter and heiress of Sir John Trussell).
His mother, the widow of Lord Henry Dudley (the youngest son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland), was the daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden and, his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey (third daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset).
[3] Being suspected of treasonable intentions together with his half-brother, Philip, Earl of Arundel (husband of his sister-in-law Anne Dacre), he was imprisoned in 1583, 1585 and 1589.
He collected a valuable library, of which most of the printed works remain at Naworth, though the manuscripts have been dispersed, a portion being now among the Arundel manuscripts in the College of Arms; he corresponded with James Ussher and was intimate with Camden, Sir Henry Spelman, and Sir Robert Cotton, whose eldest son married his daughter.
In 1592, he published an edition of Florence of Worcester's Chronicon ex Chronicis, dedicated to Lord Burghley, and drew up a genealogy of his family.
Together, Elizabeth and William were the parents of:[1] He died on 7 October 1640[2] at Greystoke, to which place he had been removed when failing in health, to escape the Scots who were threatening an advance on Naworth.