His father was the fifth son of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and his maternal grandfather was James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale.

[6] The Howards lived in London in Kensington, in a house at 1 Palace Green,[7] built for them by Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb in 1870,[8] and at Naworth Castle.

Among their visitors at Naworth were Robert Browning, William Ewart Gladstone, Lewis Carroll, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and many others.

An additional Burne-Jones cartoon is in the private collection of Tomkinsons Stained Glass Ltd. Howard was Liberal Party Member of Parliament for East Cumberland between 1879 and 1880 and again between 1881 and 1885.

Together, George and Rosalind were the parents of eleven children:[15] Lord Carlisle died in Brackland, Hindhead, Surrey, in April 1911, aged 67.

[20] Through his daughter Lady Dorothy, Carlisle was a grandfather of Michael Francis Eden, 7th Baron Henley (1914–1977).