Thomas Howard was the only surviving son of Sir Robert Howard

Robert Howard (playwright)

Sir Robert Howard was an English playwright and politician, born to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire and his wife Elizabeth.-Life:...

 of Ashtead

Ashtead

Ashtead is a village situated within the Metropolitan Green Belt of Surrey, England, and is just outside of the suburbia of London. It is separated from Leatherhead by the M25, and from Epsom by Ashtead Common.- History :...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

.

He served as a Teller of the Exchequer from 1689 until his death, a post that provided him with a house at Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

. He was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Castle Rising

Castle Rising (UK Parliament constituency)

Castle Rising was a parliamentary borough in Norfolk, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act...

 from 1685 to 1689 and from 1698 until his death, his father having the seat before him and in the intervening period. He sat for Bletchingley

Bletchingley (UK Parliament constituency)

Bletchingley was a parliamentary borough in Surrey. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832, when the constituency was...

 in the two periods between sitting for Castle Rising.

He married Lady Diana, daughter of Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford

Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford

Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford PC , styled The Honourable between 1642 and 1651, was an English soldier, courtier and Whig politician.-Background:...

 in 1683, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. Only one son survived him, dying the year after him aged 14. His daughter Diana married (in 1703) Edward Ward, 8th Baron Dudley and 3rd Baron Ward, who died in 1704, leaving her pregnant with a posthumous son, who succeeded his father in the Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

estates, but died in 1731 without issue.