The Howe Dynasty

The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain's Wars for America

By: Julie Flavell

Narrated by: Polly Lee

Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times Book Review • Editors’ Choice

Finally revealing the family’s indefatigable women among its legendary military figures, The Howe Dynasty recasts the British side of the American Revolution.

In December 1774, Benjamin Franklin met Caroline Howe, the sister of British General Sir William Howe and Richard Admiral Lord Howe, in a London drawing room for “half a dozen Games of Chess”. But as historian Julie Flavell reveals, these meetings were about much more than board games: They were cover for a last-ditch attempt to forestall the outbreak of the American War of Independence.

Aware that the distinguished Howe family, both the men and the women, have been known solely for the military exploits of the brothers, Flavell investigated the letters of Caroline Howe, which have been blatantly overlooked since the 19th century. Using revelatory documents and this correspondence, The Howe Dynasty provides a groundbreaking reinterpretation of one of England’s most famous military families across four wars.

Contemporaries considered the Howes impenetrable and intensely private - or, as Horace Walpole called them, “brave and silent”. Flavell traces their roots to modest beginnings at Langar Hall in rural Nottinghamshire and highlights the Georgian phenomenon of the politically involved aristocratic woman. In fact, the early careers of the brothers - George, Richard, and William - can be credited not to the maneuverings of their father, Scrope Lord Howe, but to those of their aunt, the savvy Mary Herbert Countess Pembroke. When eldest sister Caroline came of age during the reign of King George III, she too used her intimacy with the royal inner circle to promote her brothers, moving smoothly between a straitlaced court and an increasingly scandalous London high life.

With genuine suspense, Flavell skillfully recounts the most notable episodes of the brothers’ military campaigns: how Richard, commanding the HMS Dunkirk in 1755, fired the first shot signaling the beginning of the Seven Years’ War at sea; how George won the devotion of the American fighters he commanded at Fort Ticonderoga just three years later; and how youngest brother General William Howe, his sympathies torn, nonetheless commanded his troops to a bitter Pyrrhic victory in the Battle of Bunker Hill, only to be vilified for his failure as British commander in chief to subdue Washington’s Continental Army.

Britain’s desperate battles to guard its most vaunted colonial possession are here told in tandem with London parlor-room intrigues, where Caroline bravely fought to protect the Howe reputation in a gossipy aristocratic milieu. A riveting narrative and long overdue reassessment of the entire family, The Howe Dynasty forces us to reimagine the Revolutionary War in ways that would have been previously inconceivable.

©2021 Julie Flavell (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"The Howe story is more compelling than the stupid redcoats caricature that has persisted for more than two centuries, as Julie Flavell demonstrates in 'The Howe Dynasty,' her vibrant biography of the accomplished, beguiling family.... The Howes have long been opaque and even inscrutable. Flavell’s scholarship and deft storytelling add nuance, sympathy and granularity to the family portrait." (Rick Atkinson, New York Times Book Review)

"A richly detailed and lively saga of one of its most distinguished families. Challenging and insightful, it reflects impressive scholarship, grounded in exhaustive archival research on both sides of the Atlantic.... The Howe Dynasty shows how women whose supreme function in life was to produce male heirs could nonetheless find a voice through informal 'networking,' establishing crucial contacts in the drawing room or on the hunting field that could be mobilized to secure favors and control opinion." (Stephen Brumwell, Wall Street Journal)

"In this brilliantly conceived and vividly written biography...Flavell skillfully alternates vivid descriptions of overseas battles with developments in England, and brings new insights to William’s alleged affair with the 'captivating Bostonian' Elizabeth Lloyd Loring. History buffs won’t want to miss this richly textured account." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

more to history

the story of the Howe family was interesting to me. Expanding historical understanding. well read.

A very interesting, slightly partisan history

This is a a very interesting and extremely well researched book with a unique and valuable focus. It is very valuable for showing the role upper class women could play “under the radar” of Georgian 18th century society. It is also very valuable for showing the British side, especially the home front, of the American Revolution- a revelation to many Americans. It’s only flaws are the author sometimes descends into a tedious and not very convincing apologia for one or the other brothers Howe - especially re: Elizabeth Loring and her venal husband. The narrator is good except when she attempts an American accent which makes one cringe and is totally unconvincing and inauthentic. Even her attempt to give Caroline a feminine voice is at odds with the portrait she paints of her. She should not try different voices.

very tangential to Britain's wars for America

For me way too much detail about British aristocracy and way too little about the rise of the Howe dynasty