Francis Howard (British Army officer)


Sir Francis Howard was a British Army general in the early years of the twentieth century.

Family

Howard was a younger son of the diplomat Sir Henry Francis Howard by his second wife Baroness Marie Ernestine von der Schulenburg. Through his father he was a descendant of the Howard Dukes of Norfolk. His brother was another diplomat, Sir Henry Howard.
In 1895 he married Gertrude Jane Boyd, daughter of Hugh Boyd, and they had one son and one daughter.

Military career

Howard was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1866. He took part in the Jowaki Expedition in India in 1877 and then in and the Bazaar Valley and Lughman Expeditions of 1878 and 1879, before taking part in operations in Upper Burma in 1887 to 1889.
In 1894 he was appointed Commander 2nd Bn of the Rifle Brigade, and he took part in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.
During the Second Boer War, he was Commander of 8th Brigade and took part in the Defence of Ladysmith in 1900. He later served on the Staff and was placed on half-pay 26 December 1900.
He was made Inspector General of Auxiliary Forces and Recruiting at the War Office in 1903 and then Commander of North Western District in 1904. He was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Western Command in 1905 and retired in 1907. He was recalled as Inspector of Infantry during World War I. On 9 December 1919, Howard was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Gloucestershire.

Decorations