Henry Wickham Steed was born on October 10, 1971, in Long Melford, Suffolk, England.

He was a British journalist, editor, and publicist. He was educated at Sudbury Grammar School and the universities of Jena, Berlin, and Paris (1893). While in Europe, he demonstrated an early interest in social democracy and met with a range of left-wing figures, including Friedrich Engels, Wilhelm Liebknecht, and August Bebel. Appointed by Joseph Pulitzer as Paris correspondent for the New York World, Steed joined The Times in 1896 as a foreign correspondent, working briefly out of Berlin before transferring to Rome (1897-1902) and then Vienna (1902-1913). During his time in Vienna, he acquired a deep contempt for Austria-Hungary. In 1913, he became head of the foreign department of The Times. Seen as a leading expert on Eastern Europe, Steed's views influenced the decision-makers such as high-level bureaucrats and Cabinet politicians in the First World War and its aftermath. In 1919, Steed became editor of The Times and, in 1923, editor of Review of Reviews (1923–1930). In the early 1930s, he was one of the first English speakers to express alarm about the new German dictatorial chancellor, Adolf Hitler. In 1934, he caused a sensation with an article claiming to have evidence of secret German experiments in airborne biological warfare. Steed received honorary doctorates from the universities of Cluj and Strasbourg and was a lecturer in Central European History at King's College London.

In 1937, he married Violet Sybille Mason (1896–1970). He died on January 13, 1956, in Wootton, England.