John Howard, who came to be called the philanthropist, had few near family members. Howard’s mother died when he was an infant. His father died when he was about sixteen. Howard seems to have had only one sibling, a sister who died in 1777. In 1752, when Howard was about twenty five, he married a fifty-one-year-old woman who had cared for him in previous years when he was ill. She died in 1755. Howard remarried in 1758. His second wife died in 1765 after giving birth to their only child. Howard did not marry again.

Howard required strict obedience from his son. Writers of Howard’s obitituary in Gentleman’s Magazine indicated, without any specific evidence, that Howard’s treatment of his son caused the son to be considered insane. Howard’s admirers strongly controverted that claim.

While Howard had few immediate family members, he had many influential friends.