Friends of Hastings Cemetery

ER A58

In loving memory of

William Conquest  Howarth

Lt.Col. The Buffs and West India Regiment

Born 9th October 1848 Died 13th April 1911.

Even me.

Also his wife Emily Maria Howarth

Born 1st May 1855 Died 23rd December 1944.

William was born in Sheffield; son of the Rev. Thomas Howarth, who ran a well-respected school in Broombank.

Emily was born (birth registered in Peterborough) to Maria Jane and Frederick Peter Ketcher in 1855 and baptised on 26th May of that year in Fletton, Huntingdonshire.

She and William married 16th December 1878 in Yorkshire.

The 1891 census has them registered in Leamington, although HSLO has them attending social functions in Hastings and St Leonards from at least 1889.

The 1891 census also records four daughter:

 Harriette M M Howarth, aged 11
Born in Lincolnshire

 Ethel Rose Howarth, aged 9
Born in Singapore

 Ada M H Howarth, aged 6
Born in Stamford, Lincs.

 Violet M Howarth, aged 4
Born in Kent

Colonel Howarth joined the army as a gentleman cadet and obtained his commission in 1869. He was first connected with the Buffs and then passed into the West India Regiment in which he remained up to the time of his retirement on the 31st December 1890.  The Colonel saw considerable active service:

First Appointment - Ensign - 3rd Foot - 23rd January 1869

Lieutenant - 3rd Foot - 12th July 1871

Captain - East Kent Regiment - 16th March 1878

Major - East Kent Regiment (2nd Battalion) - 30th November 1883

Perek Expedition [Malaya] - 1875-6 - Medal with Clasp.

South African War - 1879 - Zulu Campaign. Medal with Clasp

Reaching field rank November 30,1883, he transferred to the West India Regiment August 23 1886, and retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel December 30,1890

Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 22 April 1911

LIEUT-COLONEL HOWARTH. The death occurred at 2, Essenden-road, St Leonards, on the 13th inst., of Lieut- Colonel William Conquest Howarth.

He was formerly Lieut-Colonel of the 2nd Went Indian Regiment, and " The Buffs." and had resided in St. Leonards for some time past.  The funeral took place on Monday, the first portion of the service being held at St. John's Church, Upper St. Leonards, at which the Rector (the Rev. H. D. Jones), assisted by the Rev. G. Eden King, officiated.  Interment was at the Borough Cemetery, where the Rev. Canon Jones officiated.

Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 20 May 1911

Lieut.-COL. HOWARTH. Lisut.-CoL William Conquest Howarth. of 2, Essenden-road St. Leonards, formerly of Russell House. Warwick, and of the Buffs and West India Regiments. son of the late Rev. T. Howarth, M.A., died on the 13th ult., leaving estate sworn by Mr. John Newton Coombe, of Paradise-square, . and Mr. Edward Herbert Jones, of Greenfield-road, Harborne. the executors, ay £5705. 12s. 3d., with £5,361.2s.1d. net personalty.  The will is dated 6th July. 1903. by which testator leaves £5O to his wife. Mrs. *Emilie Maria Howarth. and the residue of his property to his wife during widowhood, and on her death or re-marriace £2.000 each in trust for his unmarried daughter and the residue of his estate to his other daughters.

*Several sources give this as Emily’s name, maybe garnered from this report.

HOWARTH, Mrs. ‘Parkfield’, St Helen’s Crescent, 1887

Emily Maria Howarth resident in St Leonards-On-Sea

Probate Date 2 Feb 1945

Probate Place  Llandudno

Death Date 23 December 1944

Beneficiary's Name = Violet Maud Wilcox

Second Beneficiary's Name - Harold Chatterton Wilcox