Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harwood, Thomas

by Thompson Cooper

HARWOOD, THOMAS, D.D. (1767–1842), topographer and miscellaneous writer, was born on 18 May 1767 at Shepperton, Middlesex, of which parish his father and grandfather had been both patrons and rectors. He went to Eton on 18 Nov. 1773, when only six years and a half old, and in September 1775 was admitted on the foundation. In 1784 he was matriculated at Oxford as a commoner of University College. In 1789 he was ordained deacon, and afterwards entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was head-master of the grammar school at Lichfield from October 1791 till 1813, when he went to reside in a house of his own in that city.

In 1800 he was appointed perpetual curate of Hammerwich, near Lichfield. He graduated B.D. at Cambridge in 1811, and in 1814 was presented, on his own nomination, to the rectory of Stawley, Somersetshire, but after residing there two years, he resigned the living in 1819, and returned to Lichfield. He was created D.D. of Cambridge in 1822, and for many years was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was presented in 1828 to the chapelry of Burntwood, which he served, together with Hammerwich, until his death. He died at Lichfield on 23 Dec. 1842. In politics he was an advanced whig, and strenuously supported Roman catholic emancipation. He married, in 1793, Maria, eldest daughter of Charles Woodward, and had a family of ten children.

His works are:

1. ‘The Death of Dion, a tragedy,’ in five acts and in verse, London, 1787, 8vo. It was never acted.
2. ‘The Noble Slave, a tragedy,’ in five acts and in verse, Bury St. Edmunds, 1788, 8vo. It was performed at the Norwich theatre.
3. ‘Annotations upon Genesis, with Observations, Doctrinal and Practical,’ London, 1789, 8vo.
4. ‘Sermons,’ 2 vols. 1794, 8vo.
5. ‘Alumni Etonenses; or a Catalogue of the Provosts and Fellows of Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, from the Foundation in 1443 to the year 1797, with an Account of their Lives and Preferments; collected from original MSS. and authentic biographical works,’ London, 1797, 4to. Although excellent in design this volume was somewhat carelessly executed, and is without an index. The biographical particulars are meagre.
6. ‘The Sacred History of the Life of Jesus Christ, illustrative of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists,’ 1798, 12mo.
7. ‘Grecian Antiquities; or an Account of the Public and Private Life of the Greeks,’ London, 1801, 8vo.
8. ‘A Manual of Geography,’ 1804, 12mo.
9. ‘The History and Antiquities of the Church and City of Lichfield, containing its ancient and present state, civil and ecclesiastical,’ London, 1806, 4to.
10. An edition of Sampson Erdeswicke's ‘Survey of Staffordshire … collated with manuscript copies and with additions and corrections,’ Westminster, 1820, 8vo, and again, London, 1844, 8vo.
11. ‘Annotations, Ecclesiastical and Devotional: intended to illustrate the Liturgy and the XXXIX Articles of the United Church of England and Ireland; with an Historical Introduction,’ London, 1826, 8vo.

An engraved portrait appears in Harwood's edition of Erdeswicke's ‘Staffordshire.’

[Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 19167, f. 266; Baker's Biog. Dramatica, i. 313, ii. 156; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, p. 148; Gent. Mag. 1843, pt. i. 202; Erdeswicke's Survey of Staffordshire, 1844, p. lxxv; Graduati Cantabr. 1873, p. 186; Literary Memoirs of Living Authors, i. 240; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), pp. 751, 1009; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. vi. 313–15.]

T. C.