| Sir Francis Howard | |
| Birth Date: | 26 March 1848 |
| Birth Place: | Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia |
| Death Place: | Castle Godwyn, Painswick, Gloucestershire |
| Allegiance: |  United Kingdom |
| Branch: | British Army |
| Rank: | Major-General |
| Commands: | Western Command |
| Battles: | Second Afghan War Sudanese campaign Second Boer War |
| Awards: | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George |
Major-General Sir Francis Howard (26 March 1848 - 21 March 1930) was a British Army officer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was a member of the aristocratic Howard family, influential Catholic nobility.[1]
Howard was born in Berlin, a younger son of the diplomat Sir Henry Francis Howard (1809–1898) by his second wife, Baroness Marie Ernestine von der Schulenburg. His elder brother was another diplomat, Sir Henry Howard (1843–1921).[2]
Howard was a male-line descendant of the Dukes of Norfolk through Lord William Howard, younger son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife.[2]
Howard was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1866.[3] He took part in the Jowaki Expedition in India in 1877 and then, during the Afghan War, in the Bazaar Valley and Lughman Expeditions of 1878 and 1879,[3] and in operations in Upper Burma between 1887 and 1889.[3]
In 1894 he was appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion the Rifle Brigade, which he commanded in the 1898 Sudanese campaign, including the Battle of Omdurman,[3] and then in Crete.[4]
During the Second Boer War, he was Commander of 8th Brigade and took part in the Defence of Ladysmith in 1900.[3] He later served on the Staff and was placed on half-pay 26 December 1900.
In early 1903 he took part in the special mission (headed by Lord Downe) deputized by the King to travel to Iran to present the Shah with the insignia of the Order of the Garter.[5]
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.[3] He was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Western Command in 1905 and retired in 1907.[3] He was recalled as Inspector of Infantry during World War I.[3] On 9 December 1919, Howard was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Gloucestershire.
Howard held a number of honorary military appointments, including aide-de-camp to the Queen (1895); Colonel of the Gloucestershire Regiment (1912–13) and Colonel-Commandant of the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade (until June 1921).[4]
In 1924 Howard published his memoirs, entitled Reminiscences, 1848–1890.[6]
In 1895, Howard married Gertrude Jane Boyd, daughter of Hugh Conyngham Boyd. They had one son and one daughter.[2]