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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