He was born about 1586, in Norfolk, and had an extended military career, entering Dutch service at age 13, gaining a company after combat at the Siege of Ostend. He took part in the Sluis campaign in 1604 under Horace Vere and was ranked captain by 1606 after the siege of Rheinberg. He became colonel of an English regiment in the Netherlands in 1622/3, by purchase from Viscount L'Isle; and was then one of the four standing colonels in the Low Countries. He was shot at the siege of Maastricht in 1632. His brother George Harwood belonged to the Feoffees for Impropriations.