Howe was born in London, the second son of Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe, who died as governor of Barbados in March 1735, and of Charlotte, a daughter of Baroness von Kielmansegg, afterwards Countess of Darlington, the half-sister of King George I which does much to explain his early rise in the navy. Richard Howe entered the navy in the Severn, one of the squadron sent into the south seas with George Anson in 1740. The Severn failed to round Cape Horn and returned home. Howe next served in the West Indies aboard Burford and was present when she was severely damaged in the unsuccessful attack on La Guaira on 18 February 1742. He was made acting lieutenant in the West Indies in the same year, and the rank was confirmed in 1744.

During the Jacobite Rising of 1745, he commanded the sloop Baltimore in the North Sea, and was severely wounded in the head while cooperating with a frigate in an engagement with two French privateers. In 1746, he became post-captain, and commanded Triton in the West Indies. As captain of Cornwall, the flagship of Sir Charles Knowles, he was in the battle with the Spaniards off Havana on 2 October 1748. Between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, Howe held commands at home and on the west coast of Africa.

In 1755, he went with Edward Boscawen to North America as captain of Dunkirk, and his capture of the French Alcide was the first shot fired in the war. From then until the peace of 1763, he served in the Channel in various more or less futile expeditions against the French coast, gaining a reputation as a firm and skillful officer for his role in the series of naval descents on the French coast including the Raid on Rochefort, Raid on St Malo, Battle of Saint Cast and the Raid on Cherbourg. On 20 November 1759, he led Hawke's fleet as captain of Magnanime in the Battle of Quiberon Bay where the British won a decsisive victory, forestalling a Planned French Invasion of Britain.

After the death of his elder brother, killed near Ticonderoga on 6 July 1758, he became Viscount Howe in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1762, he was elected M.P. for Dartmouth, and held the seat until he was elevated to the House of Lords as Earl Howe in the Peerage of Great Britain. During 1763 and 1765, he was a member of the Admiralty board. From 1765 to 1770, he was treasurer of the navy. At the end of his tenure, Howe was promoted to Rear admiral, and then again, in 1775, to Vice admiral. The following year, he was appointed to the command of the North American Station.

At the beginning of the American War of Independence, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists. He had known Benjamin Franklin, who was a friend of his sister, a popular lady in London society. Howe had written to Franklin in a peacemaking effort. Because of his known sentiments, he was selected to command in America. He was joined in a commission with his brother, General Sir William Howe, head of the land forces, to attempt a reconciliation. A committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress conferred with the Howes in September 1776, but nothing came of it. The appointment of a new peace commission in 1778 offended the admiral deeply, and he resigned his command. His resignation was reluctantly accepted by Lord Sandwich, then First Sea Lord, but before it could take effect France declared war, and a powerful French squadron was sent to America under the Comte d'Estaing. Greatly outnumbered and forced to take a defensive stance, Howe nevertheless baffled the French admiral at Sandy Hook, and defeated d'Estaing's attempt to take Newport, Rhode Island, by a fine combination of caution and calculated daring. On Admiral John Byron's arrival from England with reinforcements, Howe left his station in September 1778. Declining to serve afterwards, he cited distrust of Lord North and a lack of support during his command in America. He was further embittered by the suppression of himself and his brother as peace commissioners, as well as by attacks in the press against him by ministerial writers. Owing to his short temper, he was often referred to derisively as "Black Dick".

Not until the fall of Lord North's ministry in March 1782 did Howe once again accept a command. That autumn, he carried out the relief of Gibraltar — a difficult operation, 46 French and Spanish ships-of-the-line against only 33 of his own. The exhausted state of the fleet made it impossible for Howe to fit his ships properly or supply them with good crews, and Howe's progress to Gibraltar was hampered by the need to escort a large convoy carrying stores. Still, Howe handled his makeshift fleet brilliantly and took advantage of an awkward and unenterprising enemy. From 1783 until 1788, he served as First Lord of the Admiralty during the Younger Pitt's first ministry. The task was not a pleasant one, for he had to agree to extreme budgetary constraints and disappoint the hopes of many officers who were left unemployed by the peace. On the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition against France in 1793, he was again given command of the Channel fleet. The following year would be the greatest of his career, including the victory of the "Glorious First of June". Although now nearly seventy years old, Howe displayed a tactical originality uncommon in such a veteran. Howe's active service ended after the campaign, but he continued to hold nominal command of the Channel Fleet by the king's decree. In 1797, he was called on to pacify Spithead mutineers, and his powerful influence upon the sailors who revered him was conspicuously shown. (It also helped that in his talks with the mutineers, Howe saw the justice in their demands, and negotiated a settlement that satisfied most of them.)

In 1782, he was created Viscount Howe of Langar, and, in 1788, Baron and Earl Howe. In June 1797, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Though he did not seek his sailors' affection, he was popular with them, for they knew him to be just. His nickname "Black Dick" was given because of his swarthy complexion, and the portrait by Thomas Gainsborough shows it was apt. Howe was buried in his family vault at St. Andrew's Church, Langar Nottinghamshire. His monument by John Flaxman is in St Paul's Cathedral.

Lord Howe was married on 10 March 1758 to Mary Hartop, the daughter of Colonel Chiverton Hartop of Welby in Leicestershire, and had two daughters. His Irish title descended to his brother, General William Howe, who died childless in 1814. The earldom and the viscountcy of the United Kingdom, being limited to male heirs, became extinct. The barony passed to his daughter, Sophia Charlotte (1762 – 1835), who married the Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon. Their son, Richard Curzon-Howe, succeeded his paternal grandfather as Viscount Curzon in 1820 and was created Earl Howe in 1821; he was succeeded by his son, George (1821 – 1876).

Four British warships have borne the name HMS Howe in his honour. Places named after Howe include: Cape Howe, on the New South Wales / Victoria border, Australia; Lord Howe Island, off the east coast of Australia; Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada. He also lends his name to a boarding house at The Royal Hospital School.

Richard Howe is an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and thus, the current Prince William of Wales and Prince Harry of Wales, who are second and third in line of succession to the British throne.

Richard Howe was brother to General George Augustus Howe, 3rd Viscount and Sir William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe.