He attended a boarding school in Hertford and spent two years at sea as a sailor before returning to England to become a carpenter and joiner.

[2] In 1824, he entered the architecture profession, articling for three years with a London architect, William Ford, who became his brother-in-law by marrying his older sister in 1825.

Howard and his wife remained married until her death, although he also maintained a lifelong relationship with Mary Williams, with whom he had three children.

It dates to the 1700s and was formerly part of the fence around St Paul's Cathedral in London, which was designed by Christopher Wren.

Howard was an associate of William Ford from 1824 to 1832, with one notable engineering project working on the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire, England.

His first public appointment was as a teaching master at Upper Canada College (UCC), while developing an architectural practice.

His practice thrived, with commissions ranging from cottages to banks to public projects, including Queen's College at Kingston, Ontario, and the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in Toronto (modeled on the National Gallery in London).

[2] Howard started surveying work in 1836, and he became Toronto's official surveyor in 1843, a position he held until 1855.

[2] Howard bought some land of his own, including the property now known as High Park, which he intended as a sheep farm.