| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Stafford | |
| Honorific Suffix: | FRS |
| Birth Name: | William Matthias Stafford-Howard |
| Parents: | William Stafford-Howard, 2nd Earl of Stafford Anne Holman |
| Relations: | Guy Auguste de Rohan-Chabot (brother-in-law) |
William Matthias Stafford-Howard, 3rd Earl of Stafford, de jure 4th Baron Stafford FRS (24 February 1719 – 28 February 1751) was an English peer.
Stafford-Howard was born on 24 February 1719. He was the only son of Anne Holman (d. 1725)[1] and William Stafford-Howard, 2nd Earl of Stafford, who were first cousins. His younger sisters were Lady Mary Stafford-Howard (who married, as his second wife, Count Guy Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, son of Louis, Duke of Rohan),[2] Lady Anastasia Stafford-Howard and Lady Anne Stafford-Howard, who both became nuns.[3] [4]
His paternal grandparents were the former Mary Southcote (a daughter of Sir John Southcote) and John Stafford-Howard (a son of the 1st Viscount Stafford),[5] who served as King James II's Ambassador to King Louis XIV when the former was exiled at Saint-Germain. After the King's death, his father served as vice-chamberlain to the King's widow, Queen Mary.[6] Among his extended family was aunt Mary Stafford-Howard (wife of Francis Plowden, MP for Bannow)[7] and uncle John Stafford-Howard. His maternal grandparents were George Holman of Warkworth, Northamptonshire and Anastasia Howard (a daughter of the 1st Viscount Stafford).
On the death of his father, in January 1734, he succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Stafford. He also succeeded as the de jure 4th Baron Stafford of Stafford Castle.
In 1743, Lord Stafford was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society.[6] [8] He inherited a number of English estates from his Holman family members, which he sold in 1749 to Edward Greenly of Doctors' Commons.[1]
In 1743, he married Henrietta Diana Cantillon, daughter of economist Richard Cantillon and Mary O'Mahony (a daughter of Gen. Count Daniel O'Mahony).[9]
Lord Stafford died, without legitimate issue, on 28 February 1751. His widow Henrietta married Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham.[10] Upon the death of his uncle in 1762, the earldom became extinct but the barony of Stafford reverted to Anastasia Stafford-Howard as senior heir general of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford and his wife Mary Howard, Countess of Stafford.[11]