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Rotherham & the Howard Family
In 1617 the family of Talbot, Earls of Shrewsbury failed in the direct male line. The title passed to a distant branch of the family but the three daughters inherited much of the estate. The youngest of these, Alethea married Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey. The two elder daughters had also married into the aristocracy. However they produced no children, so in 1627 an agreement was made between Arundel and the husbands as to the settlement of the property.
The manors of Sheffield, Colley, Wadsley, Worrall (now all in Sheffield) and Rotherham, Kimberworth, Whiston, Treeton, and Dinnington (now all in Rotherham), together with the rectories of Sheffield, Tickhill (Doncaster) and Rotherham and various other estates were conveyed in trust for Mary Talbot and her husband William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, for their lives. The remainder went to Henry Howard, Lord Maltravers, for his life, and then to Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey and the heirs of his body.
In 1644 Thomas Howard was granted the further title of Earl of Norfolk (a tad greedy don't you think!) but he died in exile in Italy in 1646. Alethea Talbot died in exile in Amsterdam in 1654 and the Howard titles descended to her grandson Thomas Howard, who was granted the title of Duke of Norfolk after the restoration of Charles II in 1660. The management of the South Yorkshire estates was undertaken by his brother Henry Howard who became 6th Duke of Norfolk in 1677. Before he succeeded to the Dukedom Henry Howard was prominent in South Yorkshire affairs upholding the traditional rights of the lord of the manor and pursuing Howard interests.
The manors of Rotherham and Kimberworth were held in dower by Jane Bickerton, second wife of Henry, 6th Duke of Norfolk. These were settled upon her son who became the Earl of Effingham. The Dowager Duchess lived at Holmes Hall Kimberworth. After her death in 1683 her organs were buried beneath the Sanctuary of Rotherham Church. (Her embalmed body was buried at Arundel – grisly isn't it!).
Through most of the Seventeenth Century and for the next couple of centuries the Howards were the main landowners in the Rotherham area and their influence was far-reaching in most areas of life in the town.