Robert Jared Bliss Howard was born in 1859, in Montreal, Quebec, the only son of Dr. Robert Palmer Howard (1823-1889), Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Medicine, McGill University.

He was a physician. He studied at McGill University (B.A., 1879) where he won Osler's prize for excellence in the primary examination in 1881 and graduated with the Holmes Gold Medal in 1882 (M.D.). He furthered his studies at London Hospital, in Berlin, Vienna, and Leipzig. In 1883, he was Demonstrator of Anatomy and Surgery at McGill University, Assistant Surgeon and Pathologist at Montreal Hospital, and Surgeon to the Dispensary. During the South African War (1899-1902), he worked at the Guards' Hospital, Rochester Row, London. Later he practised in London as a laryngologist. During World War I (1914-1918), he organized and supervised the Mount Royal Hospital for Officers at Bath, and also worked at the 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, for which he was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He became a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in 1884.

In 1888, he married Margaret Charlotte Smith (2nd Baroness Strathcona and Mount Royal) (1854–1926). He died on January 9, 1921, in London, England.