George James Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, known as George Howard until 1889, was an English aristocrat, peer, politician, and painter. He was the last Earl of Carlisle to own Castle Howard.

Howard was born in London, England on 12 August 1843. He was the only son of Hon. Charles Howard and the Hon. Mary Parke, who died fourteen days after his birth.

His father was the fifth son of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and his maternal grandfather was James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale. Among his father's family were uncles George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle and William George Howard, 8th Earl of Carlisle, who served as the Rector of Londesborough, both of whom died unmarried and without legitimate issue.

He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he joined the Cambridge Apostles in 1864. After graduating from Cambridge he studied at Heatherley School of Fine Art in London.

Howard's art teachers were Alphonse Legros and Giovanni Costa, and he belonged to the 'Etruscan School' of painters. He married Rosalind Frances Stanley in 1864, but did not share her campaigning interests, although he supported temperance. He was a friend of, and a patron to, a number of the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, being particularly close to Edward Burne-Jones.

The Howards lived in London in Kensington, in a house at 1 Palace Green, built for them by Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb in 1870, and at Naworth Castle. Among their visitors at Naworth were Robert Browning, William Ewart Gladstone, Lewis Carroll, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and many others. William Morris was an intimate friend, and his wallpapers were used in Kensington, at Naworth Castle and at Castle Howard when George inherited it. With Morris and Webb he was one of the founding members of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.

Howard was Liberal Party Member of Parliament for East Cumberland between 1879 and 1880 and again between 1881 and 1885. He succeeded in the earldom in 1889 on the death of his uncle The 8th Earl of Carlisle. He was a trustee of the National Gallery.

Lord Carlisle died at Brackland, Hindhead, Surrey, in April 1911, aged 67.