Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth was born on July 1, 1842, in Lisbon, Portugal.

He was a British Conservative politician, barrister, and amateur historian, and geologist. He was educated at Rossall School before studying law. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1867. He was a Unionist in politics and was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Salford South in 1886. He was re-elected in 1892 and 1895 before retiring from the Commons at the 1900 general election. Howorth was deeply interested in archaeology, history, numismatics, and ethnography. He contributed numerous articles on geological, archeological, and historical subjects to The Times and the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews. He published many books, e.g., "A History of the Mongols: from the 9th to the 19th Century" (4 pts, 1876-1927), "The Mammoth and the Flood"(1887), "The Glacial Nightmare and the Flood" (1893), and "The History of the Church in England to the Eighth Century" (3 vols., 1912–1917). In 1892, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire in recognition of his works on the history and ethnography of Asia. In 1893, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. He became Honorary Librarian of Chetham's College, Manchester, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He was also a Member of the Chetham Society, serving as a Member of the Council from 1877 until 1900. He was a Member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and a Freemason.

In 1869, he married Katharine Brierley (1847–1921). He died on July 15, 1923, in London, England.