John Howard, 1st duke of Norfolk

John Howard was an English noble, the son of Sir Robert Howard by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Mowbray, the 1st Duke of Norfolk of that family.

John was knighted in 1461 and in 1479 he was created a baron by Henry VI (r. 1422-1461, 1470-1471). From 1467 to 1474 he was treasurer of the royal household and has accompanied Edward IV (r. 1461-1470, 1471-1483) to France in 1475. After Edward’s death he supported Richard III (r. 1483-1485) who created him Duke of Norfolk and made him earl marshal of England in June 1483.

Joh Howard died leading Richard III's vanguard at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. At this point he was worth about £150,000, 0.83% of net national income of £18m. In 2010 that would be worth about £9.2bn.