Harwood was born in London. His father, name not found (died c. 19 February 1872), was a builder and contractor, which was Harwood's profession when he emigrated to
Victoria, Australia in 1852. In 1855, while on a visit to Sydney, he made his first appearance on the stage as Flavius Corunna in
Payne's
Brutus, being staged by
G. V. Brooke at the
Victoria Theatre. He took on the job of
prompter with the company, thereby gaining practical knowledge of stage management. He returned to Victoria, and joined a company at
Ballarat, playing comic characters, such as Blueskin in
Jack Shepherd. He was an expert horseman, and appeared in such equestrian plays as
Mazeppa,
Dick Turpin, and
Timor the Tartar at
Geelong. He rejoined Brooke, playing Shakespeare parts: playing Macduff, Richmond, Brabantio, Dogberry, Holofernes, Enobarbus, and Antonio; Leonata in
Much Ado About Nothing at Geelong, and as "Ancient Pistol" in
The Merry Wives of Windsor in Melbourne. He became immensely popular, appearing in a variety of roles in every kind of play, and in his day he was one of the best-known and most appreciated actors in Australia. He played De Sartoris in
Frou-Frou, Geoffry Delamayne in
Frank M. Mayo's dramatization of
Man and Wife, Cassandra in
Akhurst's
Siege of Troy, Barry Sullivan in
R. P. Whitworth's
Catching a Conspirator; and
The Pickpocket, and Cabriol in the comic opera
The Princess of Trebizonde.
Theatre management Barry Sullivan was sole lessee and manager of the
Theatre Royal, Melbourne, from March 1863 to 16 February 1866, when he played his last night and relinquished management. His lease still had a year to run, and he sublet it to
William Hoskins, but it was taken over by a partnership of Harwood,
Stewart,
Bellair,
Vincent,
Hennings, and
Lambert, then when the lease came up in 1867, a new partnership of
George Coppin, Stewart, Harwood and Hennings took it over. Coppin bought his partners out, and was sole manager in April 1872 when the theatre burned down. Coppin immediately rebuilt it bigger and better (the new theatre could seat 4,000 people over four tiers), and opened in November the same year, under joint management by Coppin, Stewart, Harwood and Hennings. Harwood retired in 1877. Harwood had invested a good deal of his earnings in bank stocks and was confident of a secure retirement, when much of his assets was wiped out in the
Australian banking crisis of 1893, and he was forced, like
Stewart, to return to the boards, and he took part in
The Private Secretary, and other plays in both Australia and New Zealand, with the Thornton company. He died from a heart complaint. == Recognition ==