Son of Joshua Howard and Rebecca Owings.

Married first to Hannah Pleasants in September 1814 at Montgomery county, Maryland. Married second to Eliza Wright Elgar about 1835 or early 1836.

Howard was born and raised in Maryland. He was admitted to the medical profession there in 1812 and practiced in Brookeville, Montgomery county, Maryland from 1813-1837, attended the University of Pennsylvania, then was a professor at the University of Maryland for two years. He arrived at UVA in 1839 where he was a professor until 1867. See Medicine in Maryland, 1752-1920 https://mdhistoryonline.net/2018/06/02/md2077/ , p. 444.

Short obituary on page 2 of the 5 March 1874 Alexandria Gazette (Va.) gives his date and place of death as 2 March in Charlottesville. The reference book, Medicine in Maryland, 1752-1920, also gives his date of death as 2 March.

Note that two of his daughters, Virginia and Laura, both married UVA professors (Courtenay and McGuffey).

The 1812 Burial Project | Society of the War of 1812 in Virginia records Dr. Henry Howard as having served in the War of 1812 as a Captain in Captain Henry Howard's Company (his own) of the 115th Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Henry Howard's), Virginia Militia. However, it appears that this Henry Howard is not the same man as the Dr. Henry Howard buried in Charlottesville. Captain Henry Howard was presumably born in Virginia and known well enough in the community to be a company commander from York county, Virginia for the duration of the war serving in the Norfolk and Hampton area. Dr. Henry Howard was born and raised in Maryland. He was admitted to the medical profession there in 1812 and practiced in Brookeville, Montgomery county, Maryland from 1813-1837, attended the University of Pennsylvania, then was a professor at the University of Maryland for two years. He arrived at UVA in 1839.

This UVA blog post http://blog.hsl.virginia.edu/feebill/historical-persons/howard/ states that, unlike other UVA medical faculty such as Drs. James L. Cabell and John S. Davis, Dr. Howard -- then over age 70 -- did not play a large role during the Civil War, though his name is mentioned as caring for a prisoner of war [citing Chalmers L. Gemmill, "The Charlottesville General Hospital 1861-1865," The Magazine of Albemarle County History 22 (1963-1964): 115].