John Howard (industrialist)

Howard was born on 16 March 1791 in Bedford and was educated at Bedford Modern School.[3] The family of Howard had been settled in Bedford and the neighbourhood for three centuries and at one period was possessed of considerable property.[4] His father was John Moore Howard, Governor of the County Gaol in Bedford.[5] Howard was the grandson and great nephew of two former Mayors of Bedford.[5]

Howard was initially apprenticed to an ironmonger at Olney, Buckinghamshire by the Trustees of Bedford Charity.[5] In 1835 he set up an iron foundry in Bedford which he expanded rapidly.[5] The business was known in Bedford as 'The Firm', as it became the largest employer in the town.[5] Specialising in agricultural machinery, he invented and exhibited a two-wheel plough at the first meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1839 for which he won an award.[6][7] John Howard retired from business in 1851 leaving his sons James and Frederick as his successors. In the following year the firm commenced the manufacture of steam ploughs.[8] The business established by Howard would later trade as James & Frederick Howard, the two brothers also building the Britannia Iron Works in Bedford in 1857.[9]

Howard died on 23 December 1878. He was the father of Sir Frederick Howard JP DL[10] and James Howard MP.[11] He was also the grandfather of Sir George Farrar, 1st Baronet and via that line the great great grandfather of James Lowther, 7th Earl of Lonsdale.[12] A painting of Howard is included in the BBC's 'Your Paintings' series.[13]