Frances Howard, Countess of Surrey

Frances Howard, by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1535

Frances Howard, (née de Vere), Countess of Surrey (c. 1517 – 30 June 1577) was the daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Trussell. She married firstly, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and his wife Elizabeth Stafford, by whom she had two sons and three daughters:

• Jane Howard, Countess of Westmorland (1533/1537 – buried 30 June 1593), who married Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland.
• Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (10 March 1536 – 2 June 1572), married (1) Mary FitzAlan (2) Margaret Audley (3) Elizabeth Leyburne.
• Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton (25 February 1540 – 15 June 1614), who died unmarried.
• Margaret Howard, Baroness Scrope of Bolton (1543 – 1591) who married Henry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of Bolton.
• Katherine Howard, Baroness Berkeley (1547 – d. 7 April 1596) who married Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley.

Late in 1546, while Frances was expecting her fifth child (Katherine), her husband was accused of treason and he was subsequently executed in January 1547.

She married secondly Thomas Staynings, by whom she had two children, a son Henry and a daughter Mary. Mary married Charles Seckford.

She died at Earl Soham, Suffolk and was buried at Framlingham Church in Suffolk. In 1614 her first husband was later reburied next to her.