John Howard (16 March 1791 – 23 December 1878)[1] was an English industrialist, an inventor of agricultural equipment and four times the Mayor of Bedford.

[3] The family of Howard had been settled in Bedford and the neighbourhood for three centuries and at one period was possessed of considerable property.

[4] His father was John Moore Howard, Governor of the County Gaol in Bedford.

[5] Howard was initially apprenticed to an ironmonger at Olney, Buckinghamshire by the Trustees of Bedford Charity.

[6][7] John Howard retired from business in 1851 leaving his sons James and Frederick as his successors.