Nicholas St Lawrence, 11th Baron Howth

Nicholas St Lawrence, 11th Baron Howth (1597–1643) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman of the seventeenth century. The Lords of Howth for over a century had played a crucial role in Irish politics; but Nicholas, unlike most of his ancestors, preferred a private life. During the English Civil War, however, his loyalty to the English Crown led to the forfeiture of much of his estate, and the troubles he endured are said to have hastened his death.

He was the elder son of Christopher St Lawrence, 10th Baron Howth (died 1619) and Elizabeth Wentworth (died 1627), daughter of John Wentworth of Essex. His childhood is unlikely to have been happy: his parents' marriage was notoriously troubled and they separated when he was still a small boy. Nicholas and his mother (who remarried Sir Robert Newcomen) were never close: in her last will she graciously forgave him for the great grief he had caused her over a lawsuit.

He succeeded to the title at the age of 22, by which time he was a married man with children, and by his own wish led "an uneventful and domestic life"; although he did play some role in politics. In 1625 he announced his willingness to make a "free gift " to King Charles I, and was on the committee to raise a subsidy for the maintenance of troops.

In 1627 Lord Dunboyne killed James Prendergast in a dispute over an inheritance. He claimed the privilege of peerage i.e. the right to be tried by his fellow nobles, and Lord Howth was one of the judges who, with only one dissenting vote, found him not guilty of manslaughter.

In 1629 Howth joined with his fellow peers in protesting against the level of Irish taxation and in 1630 he petitioned the English Crown for the summoning of the Irish Parliament. When the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford duly summoned the Irish Parliament in 1634 Howth played a prominent part in its proceedings, sitting on two key committees.

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