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Lieutenant
WILLIAM ALBERT HARWOOD
Indian Army Reserve of Officers
(1^st King George’s Own Sappers and Miners)  

by

Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis
Ó 2018.  All Rights Reserved.  

 Figure 1.  William Albert Harwood, circa 1910.
(This photograph of Harwood was taken while he was a student 
at the University of Manchester)
(Courtesy of the School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester)

 1.  INTRODUCTION

             The principal references used in the preparation of this narrative were from a number of sources.  They include census records, official registries in the United Kingdom, family trees, Army and Air Force lists, The London Gazette and numerous journals dealing with Harwood technical works.  All sources are contained in the REFERENCE section at the end of the narrative and are cited throughout in the ENDNOTES.  Every effort has been made to accurately portray the life and military service of Lieutenant Harwood.           

2.  EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

             William Albert Harwood was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, the son of John Harwood (1853 - ?) and Elizabeth Harwood, née Barnes (1852 - ?).  William was baptized by the Reverend P.A. Little at the church of St. Thomas[1] in Blackburn on the 16^th of May 1888.[2]

            The 1891 Census of England and Wales shows the Harwood family living at 6 Falcon Avenue in Lower Darwen, Lancashire, a town located to the south of Blackburn.

Figure 2.  The Harwood Family Residence, 6 Falcon Avenue, Darwen, Lancashire.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)  

            The 1901 Census of England and Wales shows the Harwood family residing at the same location as in 1891.

             The 1901 Census indicates that John Harwood was an “Employer,” so it must be assumed that he was the owner of the Waste Works and that his son Fred was one of his employees.

3.  EDUCATION AND EARLY WORKS

Studies and Research at the University of Manchester (1905-1913)

            William Harwood entered Manchester University in 1905 and studied at the School of Physics and Astronomy of the university.  While at the university he participated in the Officers Training Corps.

Figure 3.  The University of Manchester.
(Photograph courtesy of http://bryophytes.plant.siu.edu/Manchester09.html)  

            In 1907 he co-authored a paper with Mr. J. Petavel entitled “On the Recent Balloon Ascents from Manchester” and in 1909 he co-authored a paper with Mr. Ernest Gold entitled “The Present State of Our Knowledge of the Upper Atmosphere as Obtained by the Use of Kites, Balloons and Pilot Balloons.”[3]  These papers were the result of his work and that of others working at the University of Manchester kite flying station located on Glossop Moor.

Figure 4.  The Manchester University Kite Flying Station at Glossop Moor.
(Photograph courtesy of Rudy/Godinez Web Site)

            While engaged in the meteorological experiments noted above, Harwood studied for and earned a First Class Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics in 1908.[4]  Between 1907 and 1909 he also was responsible for the general management of the university’s publication and calibration of testing instruments, a responsibility that he shared with a Miss J. Potts.  While doing this work he earned a Master of Science Degree in Physics from the university in 1909 while at the same time working as a lecturer of meteorology.  During that year he co-authored a paper with E. Gold entitled “The Upper Air,” a paper that was presented at the Winnipeg meeting of the British Association.[5]

            During 1910 Harwood continued to work at the kite flying station at Manchester University and in April of that year he published the results of 25 registering-balloon ascents made from Manchester during the 2^nd and 3^rd of June 1909.[6]  He continued this work for the university until 1913 when he joined the Indian Meteorological Department.

Figure 5.  Students and Staff of the School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, c. 1910.  William Albert Harwood is seated on the floor at the right.
(Courtesy of the School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester)  

Meteorological Work in India (1913-1915)

            Upon his arrival in India Harwood was posted to the Meteorological Office in Simla.  After a short period he was appointed as an Assistant in the new Aerological[7] Conservatory at Agra.  Unfortunately the Great War broke out a few months after the establishment of the new observatory and the scientific program had to be reduced for several years to what could be carried on by routine methods in the hands of Indian assistants. On the return of more normal conditions the work at Agra was taken up again with Harwood as Assistant Director. Up to that time very little had been published of all the work done, either experimental or observational. The Director (a Mr. Field) and Harwood set to work to write up the results, Field writing a full account of the instruments and methods used and Harwood the scientific discussion of the data. Field's article was published as an introduction to a series of memoirs written by Harwood entitled "The Free Atmosphere in India," and this was Harwood’s main contribution to meteorological literature although he did go on to publish more meteorological work in 1914 and 1915.

            In early 1914 Harwood presented the following papers in the Memoirs of the Indian Meteorological Department (Volume XIX, Calcutta):

·         A Discussion of the Anemographic (wind measurements) Observations Recorded at Port Blair from September 1894 to August 1904; and

·         A Discussion of the Anemographic Observations Recorded at Dhubri from November 1889 to May 1896.

            In July of 1915 in the Monthly Weather Review he presented two additional papers:

·         A Discussion of the Anemographic Observations Recorded at Deesa from January 1879 to December 1904; and

·         A Discussion of the Anemographic Observations Recorded at Karachi from January 1873 to December 1894.

            Following these last research projects Harwood recognized his responsibility to serve his nation in the Great War, which had been going on for almost a year at this time.  He chose to obtain a commission in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers (IARO).  His only military training prior to this appears to have been his participation in the Officers Training Corps at Manchester University.  This training appears to have been sufficient for him to obtain a commission in the Indian Army, or at least in the Volunteer Corps of the Indian Army.

4.  SERVICE DURING THE GREAT WAR OF 1914-1918  

Service in the Infantry (1915-1916)

            On the 22^nd of September 1915 William Albert Harwood was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Agra Volunteer Rifles, a unit of the Infantry Volunteer Corps of the Indian Army.[8]  This unit, like many others like it in India, the Infantry Volunteer Corps was a civilian volunteer corps tasked with local security in the area in which it was formed.  It was an auxiliary regiment under the Bengal command.  The unit consisted of 6 companies, including one reserve company and one cadet company.  With headquarters in Agra, located west of Lucknow, it had companies located in Fatehgarh, Etawah, Etah, Mainpuri and Muttra.

            Harwood served with this unit for a little less than 5 months, when on the 10^th of February 1916 he was commissioned in the Infantry Branch of the Indian Army Reserve of Officers (Army List No. 1154).[9]  Since the Agra Volunteer Rifles was a unit designed for local security in India, it was unlikely that Harwood would actually see action in the Great War.  However, it was a unit that kept him close to his civilian work place in Agra where he most certainly must have continued his meteorological work.

Service in the Indian Sappers and Miners (1916-1917)[10]

            On the 15^th of February 1916 he was attached to the 1^st King George’s V Own Bengal Sappers and Miners from the IARO, probably as a result of his technical background and the military training that he received as an officer in the Agra Volunteer Rifles.  Unfortunately, in searching through the various Army Lists for this unit Harwood’s name could not be found in any company or sub-unit of the 1^st KGO Sappers and Miners.  Service with this Corps would be the closest that Harwood would ever come to active service during the war since companies the Bengal Sappers and Miners saw action in France and Flanders (1914-1915), Mesopotamia (1915-1918), the North West Frontier of India (1915-1917) and Palestine (1918).  Given that he later returned to a unit of the Indian Defence Force (Infantry Corps) at Agra in 1917, it is most likely that Harwood remained in India with the headquarters of the Bengal Sappers and Miners at Roorkee, as the distance from Agra to Roorkee was only about 220 miles and both units were in the Bengal Presidency.  Service on the North West Frontier of India or in Mesopotamia was a possibility, but this could not be verified by the author.

Figure 5a.  The Crest of the 1st King's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners 
(Image from the author's collection)    

Return to the Infantry Volunteer Corps (1917-1920)

            Harwood was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers on the 10^th of February 1917.[11]  On the 1^st of April 1917 he was appointed a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 19^th Agra Company, which was a combined active and reserve company consisting of an armoured motor battery and a machine gun detachment.  This company formed part of the reconstituted Indian Defence Force (Infantry Corps), which was newly formed on this same date.[12]  When Harwood joined the unit the company had one Major, seven Captains, three Lieutenants, four 2^nd Lieutenants and two Supernumerary Officers.

            At this point Harwood’s dates of rank and dates of appointment in the Indian Defence Force and the Indian Army Reserve of Officers become rather confusing.  The July 1919 Indian Army List, page 829, shows him as one of the four 2^nd Lieutenants in the 19^th Agra Company with the following data:

First Commission:       1 April 1917

Date of rank:               1 April 1917

Date of Appointment

to corps:                      1 April 1917

            In the same Army List, page 519, he is shown as a Lieutenant in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers (Infantry) with the following dates:

Date of First Commission:      10 February 1916

Date of rank:                           10 February 1917

            In the Remarks column he is shown as “Released.” 

            A check of the Indian Army List of January 1919, page 987, appears to explain the meaning of the word “Released.”  This list shows him as a Lieutenant attached to the 1^st King George’s Own Sappers and Miners with the following dates:

1^st Commission or date

of entering service:                  10 February 1916

Army rank:                              10 February 1917

Present appointment

in Corps:                                  15 February 1916

The Remarks column in the January 1919 list shows “I.A.R.O.”

            Lieutenant William Albert Harwood may have seen limited active service during his time in the Indian Army.  There is no evidence in his service papers to indicate that the Agra Volunteer Rifles or the 19^th Agra Company served anywhere but in India.  Also, it must be assumed that his service with the Bengal Sappers and Miners also was restricted to India since no evidence of his service outside of the country can be found, although as previously indicated he could have served in Mesopotamia for a short period of time.  On the 31^st of May 1920 Harwood resigned his commission and returned to his civil occupation as a meteorologist.[13]

            Given Harwood’s varied civil and military background, Sections 5 and 6 of this narrative are devoted to summarizing his promotions, appointments, civil education, training and qualifications.

5.  MILITARY PROMOTIONS AND CIVIL APPOINTMENTS

a.  Military Promotions:  William Albert Harwood received the following promotions during his time in military service:

NOTE:  The difference in his ranks between the I.A.R.O. and the I.D.F. has been explained above.  

b.      Civil Appointments:  William Albert Harwood received the following civil appointments prior to and following his service in the Indian Army:  

6. CIVIL EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

a.  Education:  William Albert Harwood received the following civil education prior to and following his  service in the Indian Army:

             It is of interest to note that while all of his academic degrees were in field of Physics, his work history indicates that he spent his entire career as a Meteorologist.  It may be that Harwood was a pioneer in the field of what is now known as Atmospheric physics.  This is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere fluid flow equations, chemical models, radiation budget, and energy transfer processes in the atmosphere (as well as how these tie into other systems such as the oceans). In order to model weather systems, atmospheric physicists employ elements of scattering theory, wave propagation models, cloud physics, statistical mechanics and spatial statistics which are highly mathematical and related to physics. It has close links to meteorology and climatology and also covers the design and construction of instruments for studying the atmosphere and the interpretation of the data they provide, including remote sensing instruments. All of the above fields appear to be fields that Harwood worked in during his career.  The complexity of these fields indicates that Harwood was a man of considerable intellect.

b.   Qualifications:  William Albert Harwood earned the following qualification during his life time:

 7.  MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS  

            Lieutenant Harwood received the following medals during his time in service:[14]

             Note that neither of the medals indicates the unit in which he was serving when the medals were earned.  Most likely they were issued to him for his service in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers.  Unfortunately no Medal Index Card could be found for him to verify this assumption, but his name does appear in the Indian Army Lists for service during the period of the Great War of 1914-1918.  The Medal Index Card also would have indicated any theatre of war to which he would have been deployed.

            To receive the British War Medal, Army officers and men of the British Army, including Dominion and Colonial forces, were required to have either entered an active theatre of war or to have left the United Kingdom for service overseas between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918, and to have completed 28 days mobilised service.  As a member of a Colonial force, Harwood would have been eligible to receive this medal. The Victory Medal was issued to recipients who had been mobilised for war service in the United Kingdom or the British Empire, in any service, and to have entered a theatre of war between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918.  Service in India, or perhaps in Mesopotamia, appears to have qualified him for these medals.

 Figure 6.  The British War Medal and Victory Medal of Lieutenant Harwood.
(From the author’s collection)

8.  MARRIAGE AND PERSONAL INFORMATION  

             No indication has been found to indicate that William Albert Harwood ever married.  Given his academic background, his continual research and publishing work, his military service and his residence outside of the U.K. for so many years, it is likely that he never had the time or the inclination to marry.   

9.  RELEASE FROM SERVICE  

            Lieutenant William Albert Harwood was released from service on the 31^st of May 1920 after he resigned his commission in the Indian Army.  His total service was reckoned as shown in the tables below:

 10.  POST SERVICE LIFE

            It appears that after leaving the Indian Army Harwood again worked for a time, perhaps from 1920 to 1922, for the Indian Meteorological Department.  During this period he worked on writing and publishing “Cloud Observations Made in India between 1877 and 1914.”[15] 

            In 1922 he took a position as the Officer in Charge (Superintendant) of the British Air Ministry Meteorological Office in Malta.  Prior to taking this position he returned to England, perhaps in 1921, to earn his Doctor of Science Degree in Physics from the University of Manchester.  His doctoral thesis was entitled “Upper Air Works in India.”[16]

            The need for meteorologists at Malta was considered to be urgent by both the British Admiralty and the Air Ministry, and a meteorological office was established there in 1922 with Doctor William Albert Harwood as Superintendant.  A deciding factor in his appointment was not only his Doctorate degree but also the fact that he had carried out investigations of the upper air with kites and balloons in the opening decade of the century.  His appointment to Malta was contested by 48 of the 55 Assistant Superintendants who did not agree with the appointment of someone who was not in the British meteorological service; that is, a man whose recent experience had only been with the Indian meteorological service.  Despite these petty protestations his appointment was upheld.[17]

            Harwood did, on occasion, return home to England during this period.  In October 1923 he attended a “Meteorological Luncheon” at the North-Western Hotel on Lime Street in London.[18]

            While serving in Malta he continued to write papers dealing with meteorology in India, having most likely amassed a large amount of test and experimental data while serving in that country.  In 1924 he published a paper entitled “The Free Atmosphere in India.”[19]

            Harwood appears to have served in Malta from 1922 until early in 1936 when the British Air Ministry found a posting for him as a Senior Technical Officer.[20]  He returned home to serve in this capacity and in 1939 he was serving as the temporary acting Principal Technical Officer at the Air Ministry’s Meteorological Office in Edinburgh, Scotland.[21]

            On the 2^nd of March 1942 Harwood was elected to be a Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (R.S.E.).  In the society’s list his profession is shown as Meteorologist.[22]  In May of that year Doctor Harwood was appointed to be the Air Ministry’s Principal Technical Officer of the Meteorology Office Staff in Edinburgh.  Harwood apparently continued in this appointment until he retired on a date that has not been determined.  Although he served in a civilian capacity for the Air Ministry during the years of World War 2, it is uncertain whether he would have been eligible for the Defence Medal.

            Harwood continued his work and his publishing of technical papers until at least 1947.  His publications during this period included the following:

·         “Experiments on Frontal Waves in July 1945.”

·         “Report on the Snow Survey of Great Britain for the Season 1946-1947.”

·         “Tree Rings and Climate through the Centuries” in April 1947.

            William’s brother, Fred Barnes Harwood, died on the 21^st of June 1960.  No records have been uncovered regarding other members of his family. 

            William Albert Harwood died in Torbay, Devonshire in May of 1975 at the age of 87.[23]  

REFERENCES  

Air Force Lists  

1. The Air Force List, May 1939, p. 8a.
2. The Air Force List, August 1939, p. 8a.
3. The Air Force List, September 1939, p. 8a.
4. The Air Force List, December 1939.
5. The Air Force List, May 1942.
6. The Air Force List, July 1945.

Army Lists  

1. Indian Army List, January 1917, p. 373.
2. Indian Army List, January 1919, pp. 519, 829 and 987.

Books  

1. History of the Meteorological Office. 

https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1139504487

2. Manchester University Roll of Service in the Great War.
3. Science and Modern India, 1784-1947, Delhi, India.  Edited by Uma Das Gupta.

Census Data  

1. 1891 Census of England and Wales (RG 12/3416).
2. 1901 Census of England and Wales (RG 13/3921).

Documents  

India Office Family History Search, IOR Biographical File.  

Family Trees  

Scott Family Tree:

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/118647642/person/280195082933/facts?_phsrc=EgL2635&_phstart=successSource

Internet Web Sites

Manchester University:

https://www.google.com/search?q=manchester+university+william+albert+harwood&ei=aHnwWti5NvGb5wK99YOYCQ&start=20&sa=N&biw=1200&bih=547

 Rudy/Godinez

http://rudygodinez.tumblr.com/post/69374629284/ludwig-wittgenstein-and-william-eccles-at-the-kite-flying  

London Gazette

1. The London Gazette, 5 May 1916, p. 4466.
2. The London Gazette, 24 July 1917, p. 7487.
3. The London Gazette, 7 April 1936, p. 2296.

Periodicals (Miscellaneous)  

1. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Volume 34, Issue 145, January 1908.
2. GOLD, E. and HARWOOD, W.A.  The Upper Air.  A paper presented at the Winnipeg meeting of the British Association, 1909, pp. 261-269.
3. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Volume 36, Issue 154, April 1910.
4. Memoirs of the Indian Meteorological Department, Volume XIX, Calcutta, India, 1914.
5. Monthly Weather Review, July 1915.

6.      Summary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows - 1783 -2002, p. 80/1.

7. Memoirs of the Indian Meteorological Department, Volume XXII, Part5, Calcutta, India, 1920.
8. The University of Manchester Calendar, 1921-1922.  Manchester University Press, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1921, pp. 139 and 191.
9. The Meteorological Magazine, February 1923, pp. 5 and 205.
10. Memoirs of the Indian Meteorological Department, Volume XXIV, Part7, Calcutta, India, 1924.
11. The Meteorological Magazine, June 1937, p. 120.
12. ROBIN MARSHALL.  Chapter 9.  Physics Alumni (University of Manchester), 1851-1961, p. 752.
13. THE JOURNAL: The Official Journal of The Institute of Science and Technology, Summer 2012, pp. 91 and 93.
14. The Year Book of the Scientific and Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland, 1921-1922.  Charles Griffin and Company, Limited, London, 1922.
15. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Volume 71, Issue 309‐310, July ‐ October 1945.
16. Royal Meteorological Society Journal, April 1947.
17. Monthly Weather Review, Volume 2, Issue 4, April 1947.
18. Journal of Glaciology.  Journal of Glaciology.

https://www.igsoc.org/journal/1/1/igs_journal_vol01_issue001_pg32.pdf

19. Journal of Glaciology.  Journal of Glaciology.

https://www.igsoc.org/journal/1/3/igs_journal_vol01_issue003_pg124-133.pdf

Registers  

1. Birth Register, 1888, p. 288.
2. England and Wales Christening Index, 1888.
3. Baptism Register, 1888.
4. Baptisms at St Thomas in the Parish of Blackburn. 
5. http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Blackburn/Blackburn/stthomas/baptisms_1886-1888.html
6. Death Register, 1975.

ENDNOTES