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HOWE, JULIA WARD (1819–1910)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 837 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HOWE, JULIA See also:WARD (1819–1910) , See also:American author and reformer, was See also:born in New See also:York See also:City on the 27th of May 1819. Her See also:father, See also:Samuel Ward, was a banker; her See also:mother, Julia See also:Rush [See also:Cutler] (1796–1824), a poet of some ability. When only sixteen years old she had begun to contribute poems to New York See also:periodicals. In 1843 she married Dr Samuel Gridley Howe (q.v.), with whom she spent the next See also:year in See also:England, See also:France, See also:Germany and See also:Italy. She assisted Dr Howe in editing the See also:Commonwealth in 1851–1853. The results of her study of See also:German See also:philosophy were seen in philosophical essays; in lectules on " Doubt and Belief," " The Duality of See also:Character," &c., delivered in 186o–1861 in her See also:home in See also:Boston, and later in See also:Washington; and in addresses before the Boston See also:Radical See also:Club and the See also:Concord school of philosophy. Samuel See also:Longfellow, his See also:brother See also:Henry, Wendell See also:Phillips, W.L. See also:Garrison, See also:Charles See also:Sumner, See also:Theodore See also:Parker and See also:James See also:Freeman See also:Clarke were among her See also:friends; she advocated abolition, and preached occasionally from Unitarian pulpits. She was one of the organizers of the American Woman-See also:Suffrage Association and of the Association for the See also:Advancement of See also:Women (1869), and in 187o became one of the editors of the Woman's See also:Journal, and in 1872 See also:president of the New England Women's Club. In the same year she was a delegate to the See also:Prison Reform See also:Congress in See also:London, and founded there the Woman's See also:Peace Association, one of the many ways in which she expressed her opposition of the colonies was making rapid progress, and Howe was known to be in sympathy with the colonists. He had sought the acquaintance of See also:Benjamin See also:Franklin, who was a friend of his See also:sister See also:Miss Howe, a See also:clever See also:eccentric woman well known in London society, and had already tried to See also:act as a peacemaker. It was doubtless because of his known sentiments that he was selected to command in See also:America, and was joined in See also:commission with his brother See also:Sir See also:William Howe, the See also:general at the See also:head of the See also:land forces, to make a conciliatory arrangement.

A See also:

committee appointed by the See also:Continental Congress conferred with the Howes in See also:September 1776 but nothing was accomplished. The See also:appointment of a new peace commission in 1778 offended the See also:admiral deeply, and he sent in a resignation of his command. It was reluctantly accepted by See also:Lord See also:Sandwich, then First Lord, but before it could take effect France declared See also:war, and a powerful See also:French See also:squadron was sent to America under the See also:count d'See also:Estaing. Being greatly outnumbered, Howe had to stand on the defensive, but he baffled the French admiral at Sandy See also:Hook, and defeated his See also:attempt to take See also:Newport in Rhode See also:Island by a See also:fine See also:combination of caution and calculated daring. On the arrival of Admiral See also:John See also:Byron from England with reinforcements, Howe See also:left the station in September. Until the fall of Lord See also:North's See also:ministry In 1782 he refused to serve, assigning as his See also:reason that he could not See also:trust Lord Sandwich. He considered that he had not been properly supported in America, and was embittered both by the supersession of himself and his brother as peace commissioners, and by attacks made on him by the ministerial writers in the See also:press. On the See also:change of ministry in See also:March 1782 he was selected to command in the Channel, and in the autumn of that year, September, See also:October and See also:November, he carried out the final See also:relief of See also:Gibraltar. It was a difficult operation, for the French and Spaniards had in all 46 See also:line-of-See also:battle See also:ships to his 33, and in the exhausted See also:state of the See also:country it was impossible to See also:fit his ships properly or to See also:supply them with See also:good crews. He was, moreover, hampered by a See also:great See also:convoy carrying stores. But Howe was eminent in the handling of a great multitude of ships, the enemy was awkward and unenterprising, and the operation was brilliantly carried out. From the 28th of See also:January to the 16th of See also:April 1783 he was First Lord of the See also:Admiralty, and he held that See also:post from See also:December 1783 till See also:August 1788, in See also:Pitt's first ministry.

The task was no pleasant one, for he had to agree to economies where he considered that more outlay was needed, and he had to disappoint the hopes of the many See also:

officers who were left unemployed by the peace. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary war in 1793 he was again named to the command of the Channel See also:fleet. His services in 1794 See also:form the most glorious See also:period of his See also:life, for in it he won the See also:epoch-making victory of the 1st of See also:June (see FIRST OF JUNE, BATTLE OF). "Though Howe was now nearly seventy, and had been trained in the old school, he displayed an originality not usual with veterans, and not excelled by any of his successors in the war, not even by See also:Nelson, since they had his example to follow and were served by more highly trained squadrons than his. He continued to hold the nominal command by the wish of the See also:king. but his active service was now over. In 1797 he was called on to pacify the mutineers at Spithead, and his great See also:influence with the See also:seamen who trusted him was conspicuously shown. He died on the 5th of August 1799, and was buried in his See also:family vault at Langar. His See also:monument by See also:Flaxman is in St See also:Paul's See also:Cathedral. In 1782 he was created See also:Viscount Howe of Langar, and in 1788 See also:Baron and See also:Earl Howe. In June 1797 he was made a See also:knight of the Garter. With the sailors he was always popular, though he was no popularity See also:hunter, for they knew him to be just. His See also:nickname of See also:Black See also:Dick was given on See also:account of his swarthy complexion, and the well-known portrait by See also:Gainsborough shows that it was See also:apt.

Lord Howe married, on the loth of March 1758, See also:

Mary Hartop, the daughter of See also:Colonel Chiverton Hartop of Welby in See also:Leicester-See also:shire, and had issue two daughters. His Irish See also:title descended to his brother William, the general, who died childless in 1814. The earldom, and the viscounty of the See also:United See also:Kingdom, beinglimited to heirs male, became See also:extinct, but the See also:barony, being to heirs general, passed to his daughter, See also:Sophia See also:Charlotte (1762-1835), who married the Hon. See also:Penn Assheton Curzon. Their son, See also:Richard William Curzon (1796-1870), who succeeded his paternal grandfather as Viscount Curzon in 182o, was created Earl Howe in 1821; he was succeeded by his son, See also:George See also:Augustus (1821-1876), and then by another son, Richard William (1822-1900), whose son Richard George Penn Curzon-Howe (b. 1861) became 4th Earl Howe in 190o. The See also:standard Life is by Sir John See also:Barrow (1838). Interesting reminiscences will be found in the Life of See also:Codrington, by See also:Lady See also:Bourchier. Accounts of his professional services are in See also:Charnock's Biographia Navalis, v. 457, and in Ralf s See also:Naval Bio raphies, i. 83. See also Beatson's Naval and Military See also:Annals, James's Naval See also:History, and See also:Chevalier's Histoire de la Marine francaise, vols. i. and ii.

(D.

End of Article: HOWE, JULIA WARD (1819–1910)

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