James Howard (agriculturalist)

James Howard (1821–1889), was an English agriculturalist, Liberal politician, manufacturer, and Bedfordshire landowner. In respect of his business acumen, Sir Bernard Burke wrote that James Howard had 'by his inventive genius and business talents restored the family to its former position and wealth'.

Howard was one of the sons of John Howard, of Cauldwell House, Bedford, and was educated at Bedford Modern School where he excelled and taught Junior School classes whilst still a pupil.

With his brother Frederick (later Sir Frederick Howard Kt) he founded James & Frederick Howard, a company which made agricultural machinery at the Britannia Works in Bedford. In respect of his business acumen, Sir Bernard Burke wrote that James Howard had 'by his inventive genius and business talents restored the family to its former position and wealth'.

In 1862, Howard bought a large part of the Clapham, Bedfordshire, estates of Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, and established a model farm there, farming his land under new scientific methods. Howard was Mayor of Bedford in 1863 and 1864 and, in 1868, he was elected as one of the two members of parliament for the Bedford constituency, but he lost the seat to a Conservative in 1874. In 1872, he built Clapham Park, a new Victorian country house in an Elizabethan style standing on high ground to the south of Clapham Wood. In 1880, he returned to the House of Commons as member for the Bedfordshire county constituency, which he represented until it was abolished in 1885.

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