HARWOOD, Philip

Born in Colchester, Essex, younger son of William Henry Harwood (see below) and brother of Bernard Smith Harwood (see above). Educated at Colchester Grammar School before joining the Westminster Bank where he worked in the Blackheath office. He signed up for the army on the outbreak of War in 1914 and took part in the Battle of the Somme. After 1918 he worked at the bank's Newbury and Westerham branch, before being finally posted in 1925 to the Winton branch at Bournemouth where he remained until his retirement in 1942 after 42 years service. Harwood had long loved the Highlands and took his holidays at Aviemore every year from 1922-1939. After retiring he went to live there and at Kincraig, where he bought a house, and where many entomologists visiting the Highlands stayed. Feeling the need for a milder climate he moved in 1952 to Wimborne in Dorset where he died and is buried with his wife Olive (nee Johnson) whom he had married in 1920. Harwood's interest in insects was stimulated by his father and brother at an early age and remained with him throughout his life. A detailed diary which he kept (in the HDO, see below) records the date and place of his collecting activities and lists the main species seen, and makes clear that his industry in the field was quite remarkable. He often collected on every weekend throughout the year, regardless of the weather, and on every available evening throughout the summer. Even in 1952, when he was seventy, he was in the field on 125 occasions. His particular interests were Hemiptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, and, not surprisingly, he built up impressive collections of each family amounting to 9 cabinets with 182 drawers and almost 100 store boxes. Harwood wrote comparatively little given his knowledge and enthusiasm, but did contribute a long series of notes, many of which concern Coleoptera, to the EMM from 1906 when 'Coleoptera from the Newbury District' (pp.87-89) appeared. From 1918 when he published 'Scaphium immaculatum a new genus and species in Britain' (based on captures at St Margaret's Bay, Kent) (54, pp.131-132), many noted new species to Britain. These included Ochthephilum fracticorne (1920, p.231); Calodera uliginosa (64, 1928, p.5), found when collecting with his friend B.S.Williams at Christchurch, Hampshire; Trox perlatus (1929, p.171) found when working the cliffs between Swanage and Lulworth; Myrmechixenus subterraneus (1930, p.153) found in an ant's nest near Ringwood; Malthodes crassicornis (mentioned by A.A.Allen 73, 1937, p.191); Obrium brunneum (72, 1936, p.149, written with L.G.Cox) Harwood took his example beating hawthorn blossom near Wimborne; and others. Harwood appears to have been friendly with most of the Coleopterists of his day and to have exchanged specimens with many of them. His collections of insects, which included thoser of his father and brother, were divided between the NHM and the HDO, the latter getting the Coleoptera. Smith (1986) lists these as '533 specimens of Staphylinid beetles of the genus Atheta... (July 1956)...Collection of British Coleoptera and Diptera consisting of six cabinets containing 85 drawers of Coleoptera (approximately 100,000 specimens) ... also 10 store boxes of Coleoptera (presented by Mrs Harwood 1957). She also presented his microscope and his diaries, together with those of his brother. They cover the period 1888-1916 and 1918-1957. His books and papers were distributed amongst his friends. He was immaculate in his setting and used a standard 13 x 4mm card for all the smaller specimens with full data written underneath. The Fenscore National Database also records that there are 'Harwood and Cox' specimens in the Britten collection at Manchester and Andy Salisbury tells me that 10 specimens of Carabids and Cerambycids, dated 1905-1930, are in the RHS’s collection. There are also mspecimens in K.C.Lewis's collection. FRES from 1910. Member AES. Founder member of BENHS. There are obituaries in EMM, 94, 1957, p.60, by S.C.S.Brown,(includes a portrait) from which much of the above is taken, and Proc.RESL., 22(C), 1957-58, p.74. Gilbert (1977) includes the same portrait as above. (MD 3/03)