Howard, the 5th son of George James Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, received an M.A. degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in 1909, and to the Prime Minister in 1910; as Vice Chamberlain of the Household from 1911-15; as the Major's Lieutenant for North Riding, Yorkshire; as temporary Captain in the Royal Navy Division in 1914; under the Lord of the Treasury from 1915-16; and was also a Justice of the Peace. Mr. Howard was a Member of Parliament for divisions in Cumberland (1906-10), Wiltshire (1911-18), and Bedfordshire (1923-24). Howard married Hon. Ethel Christian Methuen [d. 1932], daughter of Field-Marshal 3rd Baron Methuen, in 1915. They had three sons and two daughters.