Sir Edward Harwood

1581-1632

Lincolnshire has always played its part in raising volunteers for military service overseas, in places like Flanders and Ireland, and among the soldiers that Bourne has produced, honourable mention must be given to Edward Harwood who distinguished himself in the early 17th century and was knighted for his bravery in the field.

He was born at Thurlby, near Bourne, in 1581, one of five children of William Harwood and Elizabeth Grenham, and in 1599 he went to the Netherlands as a page, possibly joining Colonel Sir John Ogle who came from nearby Pinchbeck, and spent most of the rest of his military career in the service of the Dutch republic, distinguishing himself during the Thirty Years War.

This was a major conflict in central Europe from 1618-48, beginning as a German clash between Protestants and Catholics but was gradually transformed into a struggle to determine whether the ruling Austrian Hapsburg family could gain control of all Germany. Under the Peace of Westphalia, the German states were granted their sovereignty and the emperor retained only nominal control.

A brigade of English volunteers was serving on the continent before and during the conflict, originally formed by Sir Francis Vere but led for most of the period by his brother, Sir Horace Vere (born 1565) who was generally regarded as the finest English soldier of his time. Around 100,000 men were drafted for foreign service from 1585-1603 alone, the soldiers being either recruited voluntarily as individuals or impressed as part of the regular contingents that were sent by the King to serve on the continent or Ireland.

After service at Ostend in 1602, Sir Edward was consistently promoted until by 1607, still very youthful, he was captain of a company of 150 infantrymen and about this time he attracted the favour of Prince Maurice of Nassau, captain-general of the United Provinces, becoming one of his personal servants in the privy chamber, a position considered to be of great honour at the time. It may also have been at the behest of Prince Maurice that he was knighted, which he had been by the time of the Cleves-Jülich campaign of 1614.

After the earlier Jülich campaign of 1610, Sir Edward and General Sir Edward Cecil, nephew of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury and chief minister to James I, had “exchanged as much bitterness as rage and malice can think” and Prince Maurice narrowly prevented a duel although the acrimony between them continued until 1613 when a panel of the English nobility was appointed to judge its rights and wrongs. [Another version of these events suggests that a duel did in fact take place but not with General Sir Edward Cecil and that Sir Edward killed an unnamed opponent, a deed for which he never forgave himself.]

By 1620, Sir Edward had been promoted lieutenant-colonel and in 1626 he was a full colonel commanding an English regiment, one of only four in the pay of the Dutch at that time, thus becoming one of the premier English soldiers of the day. In that year, he was one of the colonels in the disastrous English expedition to Cadiz and got the rearguard away safely, returning to the Netherlands where he served for the rest of his life.

He was shot and mortally wounded at the Battle of La Felt during the siege of Maastricht on 11th August 1632, pierced through by three successive bullets and in 1636 one of his officers, Captain Nicholas Byron, erected a monument to his memory in the Hague where he was buried on the instructions of Prince Maurice.

Sir Edward was known for his courage both on the battlefield and in sieges and was also unquestionably a supporter of “godly” religion. He opposed a Spanish marriage for Prince (later King) Charles and used his influence with Prince Maurice to have the exiled puritan William Ames appointed professor of divinity at Franeker University in Holland.

He was said to have been always penitent over the duel in which he had killed a man and this determined him to forego personal quarrels in the future. Thomas Fuller referred to this in his book The History of the Worthies of England (1662) when recording his life and death as follows:

He was a valiant soldier and a gracious man. Such who object, that he was extremely wild in his youth, put me in mind of the return which one made of an ill-natured man in a company, who with much bitterness had aggravated the debauched youth of an aged and right godly divine: "You have proved", said he, "with much pains what all knew before, that Paul was a great persecutor before he was converted."

I have read of a bird, which has a face like, and yet will prey upon a man; who coming to the water to drink, and finding there by reflection, that he had killed one like himself, pineth away by degrees, and never afterwards enjoyeth itself. Such in some sort of condition Sir Edward. This accident, that he had killed one in a private quarrel, put a period to his carnal mirth, and was a covering to his eyes all the days of his life. No possible provocations could afterwards tempt him to a duel: and no wonder if one's conscience loathed that whereof he had surfeited. He refused all challenges with more honour than others accepted them; it being well known, that he would set his foot as far in the face of his enemy, as any man alive.

Death was so civil to him as to allow him leave to rise up on his knees and cry, "Lord, have mercy upon me." Thus a long death-prayer after a long pious conversation.

Before the action at Maastricht, Sir Edward had made his will on 16th June 1632 and since he had never married, left his entire estate worth £500 to his eldest brother George, a London merchant and by then an extremely wealthy man. He also bequeathed £100 “for pious uses to be disposed of by my brother by such Ministers advise as he knows I most respecteth” and he left jewels and medals to the exiled Queen of Bohemia’s family. There were also several bequests to his officers and this, together with their loyalty to his memory and his ability to charm the prickly Prince Maurice, suggests that he was an extremely personable character.

Recent genealogical research carried out by descendants of Edward Harwood’s eldest brother George, notably Winston Harwood of Austin, Texas, USA, gives a variation in his career which also contained an element of business. The account suggests that he left the family home at Thurlby and went to London when he was 18 to join his eldest brother George who was six years his senior and had left home to seek his fortune. George had become established as a merchant when Edward arrived in London in 1604 and began his military career, no doubt with the help of his brother’s money and by 1618, he had attained the rank of captain and been knighted by James I.

He had also become a protégé of the Earl of Bedford and on 8th December 1618, the earl assigned to him a Bill of Adventure in the amount of £50 which entitled him to four shares in the Virginia Company of London. He was also invited to join His Majesty’s Council [the Privy Council] as the company’s representative and later increased his holding to ten shares at £125 each, making him one of the seven largest shareholders and making regular attendance at meetings of the company’s Board of Governors between April 1619 and April 1623. Also in 1618, he received land in Bermuda in return for his Virginia Company shares.

Sir Edward subsequently achieved prominence as an officer in the Low Countries during the Thirty Years War. At some point after 1625, Edward devised a widely acclaimed plan for the defence of England from the French by sea and land entitled “The Advice of that Worthy Commander, Sir Edward Harwood” that greatly impressed the king, Charles I, who had succeeded James I in that year.

In 1626, Sir Edward and his regiment were ordered to assist the King of Denmark in the latest phase of the war although in 1630, he took time off for a business trip to London where he became one of the incorporators of the Providence Islands or Bahamas Company and records from that period indicate that his brother George was at that time treasurer of the Massachusetts Company. On returning to duty, Sir Edward was ordered to Holland with his regiment in 1632 to support the King of Bohemia and subsequently met his death at Maastricht.

Mr Harwood’s research is meticulous and although it is difficult to reconcile a life of business and commerce with that of a campaigning military man, his sources are impeccable. Until fresh evidence is forthcoming, the two accounts of Sir Edward Harwood’s life must stand.

It has been claimed that George published a book in 1642 entitled “The Adventures of Sir Edward Harwood – written by the command of King Charles and presented in his own lifetime to His Majesty” but this has since been proven to be untrue although a book about him was written about that time by Hugh Peters, a famous Puritan minister and author of the period, stressing his military skill, bravery and reformed godliness, declaring: “Religion, fidelity and prowesse met in him” which was regarded as an admirable summary of Sir Edward Harwood’s character and career.

THE HARWOOD FAMILY

William Harwood was born at Thurlby, near Bourne in 1558 and in 1579 he married Elizabeth Grenham, also born at Thurlby in 1558. The dates of their deaths are not known. They had five children, George (born circa 1580), Richard, Elizabeth and Susan (born between 1581 and 1585) and Edward (born 1586). All of the children were born at Thurlby. Elizabeth subsequently married a Mr Malory, Susan married a Mr Draper and Richard’s wife is unknown, but all three probably remained in Thurlby for the rest of their lives.
William Harwood made his will on 30th July 1600, describing himself as "gentleman" and requesting to be buried in the quire [choir] of Thurlby parish church. He left his farm to his wife, Elizabeth, for 12 years, afterwards to go to his son, Edward, to whom he also left £4 per year for the first 12 years before he received the farm (a total of £48). He left his sons, George and Richard, the sum of £42 each payable to them at the age of 24. He also left his daughter, Elizabeth, the same amount but payable at the age of 18. All told, his cash bequests totalled £134 [equal to £134,000 at today's values] and in addition to his farm, livestock and household goods which he left to his wife, he gave livestock to several others together with his "little riding mare to his very good friend Richard Frampton Esq" and so it would appear that he was an extremely wealthy man.
George left home at an early age to seek his fortune and in 1598 met and married Catherine Pheasant, daughter of Thomas Pheasant, of Dublin, who had moved with his family to London. They had four sons, William (born 1599), Thomas (1600), John (circa 1601) and George (circa 1603).
William sailed for Virginia in 1619 at the age of 20 and died in Charles City County after 1644. Thomas, who followed him to Virginia in 1622, died in Warwick County, Virginia, before October 1652. It is not known when or where John and George junior died.
After his wife Catherine died, George senior left for Virginia to be with his sons and purchased land adjoining William’s 2,000-acre Weyanoke Plantation which he had helped finance in 1644. He was still living there in 1661 at the age of 81, although it is not known when he died.

REVISED DECEMBER 2006

NOTE: I am indebted to Winston Harwood of Austin, Texas, USA, a descendent of Edward Harwood’s brother George, for making his genealogical research into the family available for this article and to the entry on Sir Edward Harwood in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by D J B Trim.

See also The Civil War

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