Biography
Harold Bertram Harrison (b. Waterhouse Monkton, Somerset, UK 1855 - d. London, UK 1924) lived at Applehayes, near Clayhidon in the Blackdown Hills in Devon. He entertained artsist from the Camden Town Group. Harrison spent his working life until the age of forty-one with his brother on the family ranch, La Isleta, in Argentina. When he returned to England, however, Harrison pursued his interests in art, and in 1896 enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He studied there until 1898 his fellow students included Spencer Gore, who started the same year, Harold Gilman and Gwen and Augustus John.
Harrison acquired the Applehayes estate in 1909 and by buying the adjacent land of Barn Farm, Little Garlandhayes and Lears Farm he considerably extended his holding to around 300 acres. He built a series of seven trout ponds, fed by a tributary of the River Culm, and rode to hounds as well as farming the estate. Applehayes itself was a traditional Devon longhouse, which dated back to around 1550, but Harrison added a special studio wing for his artist guests, that included two bachelor bedrooms. Harrison’s drawing teacher at the Slade had been Henry Tonks (1862–1937), and he maintained their friendship seeking his advice as to which younger artists he might entertain there.