John George Howard - Personal Life

Personal Life

Born John Corby in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England in 1803, Howard was the fourth of seven children of John and Sarah Corby. He attended a boarding-school in Hertford and spent two years at sea as a sailor before return to England to become a carpenter and joiner. In 1824, he entered the architecture profession, articling for three years to a London architect, William Ford, who became his brother-in-law, marrying Howard's older sister in 1825. Corby remained with Ford until his departure for Canada. In London, Howard met and married his wife Jemima Frances Meikle on May 7, 1827.

John and Jemima emigrated to Canada in 1832. It was at this time that Howard adopted the Howard surname. He himself gave two explanations. On February 11, 1834, when his change of name was revealed in a court case Howard wrote to Lieutenant Governor Sir John Colborne’s secretary, explaining that he was illegitimate, that when he was about 18 he had adopted the name Corby after the man his mother had subsequently married, and that he had assumed 'his proper name' when he left England. Later in life he claimed direct descent from Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk, through a 17th-century Howard who had adopted the name Corby from the ancestral estate Corby Castle, because of a family quarrel.

John and Jemima remained married until death, however John maintained a lifelong relationship with Mary Williams, with whom he had three children. John and Jemima themselves had no children. In 1877, Jemima died of cancer. Howard lived until 1890, dying at home at Colborne Lodge in High Park. The Howards are buried in High Park; the monument is near to Colborne Lodge.