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ccording to the Commission de toponymie, Quebec's official naming agency, the township of Howard, created in 1871, was named to honour Sir Frederick Howard, fifth Earl of Carlisle. Howard was Commissioner of the Colonies during the very difficult period of the American War of Independence and was sent to the colonies in the 1770's to try to pacify the Americans. Despite the resulting war and the creation of the United States, his mission demonstrated that he was a very capable man. He succeeded in getting an audience and in commencing dialogue.

Howard lived in Castle Howard at Henderskelfe in Yorkshire. He inherited the title Earl of Carlisle at 10 years of age and held it during a period of political peace in England. Howard spent a good part of his life in the company of his childhood friend Charles James Fox, an incurable gambler. Howard was known for his extravagance and was criticized for his generosity in supporting his friend's gambling habit, a support that drained the estate's coffers. He went into public life and eventually became Treasurer of the Royal Household, an unlikely responsibility for a spendthrift.

Nevertheless he went from success to success and finished his career as a Knight of the Garter. The Order of the Garter, whose motto is "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" was founded in 1348 by King Edward III and is the oldest and highest British order of chivalry. According to Spink and Sons Ltd, the earliest records of how the symbol came to be have been lost, but there are two theories: The first suggests that Joan, Countess of Salisbury, dropped her garter and King Edward seeing her embarrassment picked it up and bound it about his own leg saying in French, "Evil, (or shamed) be he that thinks evil of it". Spink and Sons feels that this is "almost certainly a later fiction. This fable appears to have originated in France and was, perhaps, invented to try and bring discredit on the Order. There is a natural unwillingness to believe that the world's foremost Order of Chivalry had so frivolous a beginning."

The other theory is that the garter was a small strap used as a device to attach pieces of armour and that the garter is used as a symbol of binding together in common brotherhood and that the motto refers to the leading political topic of the 1340's, Edward's claim to the throne of France. Castle Howard is still in the control of the Howard descendants and was opened for public viewing in 1952.

In light of the conversion of the Lac St. Denis military base's mountain- top radar installation into a replica of a medieval fort, it might be worth looking back at the Howard family and the role it played, not just in the Colonies, but throughout English history.

Perhaps the most significant achievement of the Howards of Norfolk was the longevity of their line. The Dukedom of Norfolk, created in 1397, devolved to the Howard line in 1483, but Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, 18th 'Howard' Duke of Norfolk, lives today in Arundel Castle, Sussex. The first Howard of record before that, John Howard, acceded to Wiggenhall, St Peter, in 1267. Two hundred and sixteen years later, in 1483, his descendant became Sir John, 1st Duke of Norfolk. Sir John died on the battlefield at age 65.

About one hundred years later, Catherine Howard, cousin of Anne Boleyn, became Queen of England through marriage to Henry VIII. She was subsequently accused of having had relations with her music teacher before she was married and she was executed. (This same music teacher, Francis Dereham, is thought to have had similar relations with the King.) Her cousin, Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk, having learned nothing from this lesson, aspired to become the husband of Mary Queen of Scots in a bid to become the king, and was beheaded in 1572. The dukedom was forfeit and returned to the Howards again only in 1660.

It was the 4th Duke's youngest son, William Howard, who fathered the Howard of Carlisle line and acquired the property that would become Castle Howard in Yorkshire. His great-grandson Charles, described as a skilled opportunist, received the first title granted by Oliver Cromwell and succeeded in having the title Earl of Carlisle bestowed by King Charles II after Cromwell was ousted, an impressive bit of political turn-coating. This Howard line continued until the 10th Earl died in 1911. Sir Frederick Howard, the 5th Earl, was the one for whom St. Adolphe d'Howard is named.

It would be interesting to find who actually chose the name for the township of Howard, because the Howard family is also associated with the earldom of Arundel. It would suggest that the names were chosen to win favour with powerful and influential families in England, families that may have had little or nothing to do with Canada. Today one imagines that the French Canadian farmers who came to settle in the Township of Howard may have resented the choice of such a name, but the assumption is likely wrong. As demonstrated by the arguments over the origin of the slogan Je me souviens on our licence plates, the saying "Je me souviens que né sous le lys, je croîs sous la rose" was a sentiment that existed in the 19th century. We forget today that the Canadiens of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were royalists. Better the King of England than no king at all. Royalty and titles carried status even if they were English ones and the concept of a country without a king was still experimental. Canadians, whether English or French, would have identified with a monarchical system more naturally than with a republican one.

In 1879, the mission of St. Adlophe d'Howard was established and it would grow in time to become the municipality. The name Adolphe comes from a tradition of naming a new mission after the curé of the sponsoring parish, in this case Adolphe Jodoin, Curé of St-Sauveur-des-Montagnes. As was the case in many other towns, the post office adopted the parish name when it was opened in 1882, and the municipality, set up as Municipalité du canton de Howard in 1883 changed it's name to St. Adolphe d'Howard in 1939.

Special thanks to Jorge H. Castelli at www.tudorplace.com.ar

Joseph Graham has written a book that features a select number of stories of Laurentian places and how they got their names. To learn more, click here.

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This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the author. © Joseph Graham