He was born in
Bristol, and when young started work in a solicitor's office. After serving out his articles, he decided to enter the ministry, and studied at the
University of Edinburgh. There
Thomas Chalmers's lectures had the unintended effect of converting him to
Unitarianism, and he became in 1835 pastor of the Unitarian congregation at
Bridport. In 1839 he officiated for a time at
St. Mark's Chapel, Edinburgh, where his scepticism about miracles involved him in an acrimonious controversy with
George Harris of
Glasgow, and other members of his denomination. In 1840, Harwood moved from Bridport to London, where he became in 1841 assistant minister to
William Johnson Fox at
South Place Chapel. After a while he accepted an engagement to lecture on Sundays at the
Beaumont Institution,
Mile End; continued until 31 December 1843, when it was terminated by John Augustus Beaumont, son of the founder, who disliked Harwood's theology. He had already been introduced by Fox to
John Forster, and had become sub-editor of
The Examiner. He moved to
The Spectator, and about 1849 he joined
John Douglas Cook as sub-editor of the
Morning Chronicle, then recently acquired for the
Peelite faction. The
Chronicle was sold in 1854, and Harwood followed Cook to the
Saturday Review, which was started in November 1855. Harwood sub-edited it until 1868, when he became editor after Cook's death. Harwood was seriously ill in 1881, and in December 1883 he retired from the editorship and went to live in
Hastings, where he died 10 December 1887. The novelist
Isabella Harwood was his daughter and she died the following year also in Hastings. ==Works==