[1][2] Following the death of his mother, Sarah Wood Douglas, in 1779, Howard was raised by his aunt, Helena Baillie, near Edinburgh.

His father agreed to take him to sea when he was 13, but Sir Charles died of apoplexy while in Edinburgh just after he arrived to collect Howard in 1789.

[citation needed] Howard's guardians thought it better that he serve in the Army instead, and he entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1790.

In his regimental service during the next few years, he was attached to all branches of the artillery in succession, becoming Captain in 1804, after which he was placed on half-pay to serve at the Royal Military College (RMC), then located at High Wycombe.

In 1812 he was employed in special missions in the north of Spain, and took part in numerous minor operations in that region, but he was soon recalled, the Home Government deeming his services indispensable to the Royal Military College.

Douglas's criticisms of Carnot led to an important experiment being carried out at Woolwich in 1822, and his Naval Gunnery became a standard text-book, and indeed first drew attention to the subject of which it treated.

[8][9] On his return to Europe he was employed in various missions, and he published about this time Naval Evolutions, a controversial work dealing with the question of breaking the line.

From 1842 to 1847 Douglas sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool,[12][a] where he took a prominent part in debates on military and naval matters and on the corn laws.

[16] and On Naval Warfare With Steam[17] In 1797, while in Quebec City, Douglas fathered a daughter, Margaret (or Marguerite), but did not marry the mother, Catherine Normandeau.