Jane Harrison

Miss Anne Jane Harrison: Extract from her SOME REMINISCENCES, 1949: to his daughter Barbara. A short time after your father passed on, you said you wished your Uncle Will and I would write a few reminiscences of him, as we remember him in his young days: HER BIRTH: The house in which your Uncle Will & I were born is situated in the Liverpool road of Newcastle, Staffs., but your father was born in one a little further down. HER PETS & HOLIDAYS : We were fond of animals as most youngsters are, & collected more or less desirable specimens of them, cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, mice, rats! I had a jackdaw, a rook, dormice, white mice, silk-worms.---My jackdaw was a charming bird & as sensible as a dog, the rook not so interesting. Will brought him for me one day & swore it was a jackdaw & I believed him until it gave a great CAW! The canary which I mentioned before, died at the age of 18 years & was stuffed , then the moth got into him,& so-sic vita transit ! ---One day Mother said, hearing of a new pup, ' I'll have no more dogs, we have enough' but your father said,' don't worry, leave it to me', so one day ,Mother not being well, & in bed, he took the small puppy up & put him on the counterpane; in five minutes she was playing with him, and we heard no more of him going. I must say our old Ellen was very long-suffering with what she put up with in the kitchen. When we played at gypsies, she allowed us to put up tents with dust-sheets & such like & even let your father & Uncle Will bring in bundles of straw & other rustic stage properties from outside & making no fuss whatever. Her baby, Ted, of course had to be in it, & all was serene! Our pleasures were very simple in that day, there were not the mechanized amusements (drat them) that obtain in this age. We had no cinemas to learn crime in, & no eternal din of wireless to kill all personal effort in music.-- One of our favourite tricks took place when the parents were in bed; we then repaired to the boys' bed-room & played whist, keeping very quiet. We were allowed to play with a miniature pack' of cards, but not on any account with one of full size! This performance was further distinguished by a banquet of odds & ends collected during the day. No wonder attendance at church was compulsory. Collections were made by a sort of box with a handle to it. Your father declared that he used to put in his sixpence & extract change for his own use, but I took this tale cum grand salis!--- About this time, we used to go to Wales for our annual holiday, usually either to Llandudno or Llangollen. Those were lovely days in those lovely places. Unfortunately I cannot remember the dates. We just basked in the beauty of Wales, & thank Heaven there were no cinemas, & no wireless.--A German band would sometimes visit the place,& one day at Llangollen

 Ted ,seeing one in full blast, said: ' I'll stop that band,'  of course we swore he couldn't, & assembled to see the upshot. He casually visited a greengrocers' shop,& bought a large lemon,& sucked it in their presence. Of course, water filled their instruments, & they left, blaspheming in German!  HER EDUCATION . Leading from the Liverpool Road was a small street where an old lady kept a dame school, and to this school I went at the age of six, being totally unacquainted with the English alphabet & I remember my terror when I was first reluctantly dragged there. These dame schools must have been imminently suited for young children & one need not be ashamed of being sent there since the great scientist, Sir Oliver  Lodge (who was also a Staffordshire man) tells us in his autobiography that he himself began thus, & in fact, I remember meeting the very old lady who had taught him his letters, she being a connection of our relative Cousin Lizzie Burrows, whom I think you went to see once in England. Later on,  I went to a Miss Hill's school on the Marsh Parade, which was more advanced, & your Aunt Alice & your father also went, as she took little boys. Miss Hill was fairly strict, ---there was a nice tone about that  school; we were taught old fashioned manners, respect for our elders, how to enter a room, not to speak unless spoken to, & to shut the door after us. I remember a wooden back board being forced between my shoulders to cure me of stooping. We were a mixed lot, one of our pupils had a father who was a grocer, & he possessed  a large covered van. The vehicle was a great boon to us, for, on rainy days those of us who lived on the same route, were dumped into it, & deposited at their various homes. You may imagine how the boy pupils, including your father enjoyed these journeys through the town. I was the elder & supposed to keep them quiet, but the noises issuing from the van often brought the shop-keepers to their doors. At this school, I first learnt music, & the old lady teacher was often so tired with giving lessons, that she would fall into a placid slumber  & snore, which as long as it lasted filled one with joy, as I romped along just as I liked, until a more than usual discord awakened her. Music was a nightmare to me, as whenever we had company the wretched 'Jennie' sat trembling with fright waiting for the parental summons to play them a tune---parents little realized how children suffered on these occasions. Now of course, a modern child so ordered, would say, 'All right ,old Bean, let' s turn on the wireless' . One thing about that school was, that we were taught to love good literature, not just doing it & only the best ones read to us,---Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte, Shakespeare, & all the great poets, so that ever after, I thanked dear old Miss Hill for pointing my nose that way. Well, she gave up teaching & for one year only, I was sent to the Girls' High School & left at sixteen. I always resented that I could not go longer, & in fact, I had to beg for that, such was education in those days. My school books were put away practically wet with tears of regret.   At this time, there was an art school in Newcastle, a branch of S. Kensington,[Slade]  & there your father must have laid the foundation of his architectural career by his first lessons in perspective & where I got all the art education the town afforded & where I had to procure all the fees myself, somehow or other, my father being difficult at times. The head master of this school was a great friend of mine & when he found that our tastes were in common & that he had to deal with a student as eccentric as himself (he was a very eccentric Irishman), he allowed me to study in the advanced section just when I liked, while he strode about declaiming from Shakespeare & Ruskin etc.---After these years were passed, my career as a black sheep began, & my father &  I had differences of opinion as to my occupation in life; I began to kick against the plan of re-touching photographs all my life, & this did not please him. My mother & your Aunt Alice both sided with me, but he fought me tooth & nail. At last, I got my way, & I may say I went through Hell  to get it. I then went to London being made to feel a kind of malefactor, & I lived for years with my Aunt, a sister of my father's, in order to pursue my Art Education, but had to leave for some time, as your Aunt Alice was taken ill & I  had to go to Bournemouth with her for the winter. This did not save her,& after I took her back to Newcastle, she only lived a few months longer, & I went again from London there, until she died.---At the top of the house was a garret; a furnace in summer & freezing in winter. In this,  I used to slave, retouching photographs, in order to earn enough from my father to pay my Aunt for my board. After a hard day at this, I walked to an Art School in the evenings, returning late at night, far too late for a girl to be out in London, alone.(As Allerley Glossop was trained at the Slade, A J Harrison was also trained there, but not perhaps at the same time ) A Glossop taught art between 1898-1900 at the Sphinx Studio in Fitzroy Street, London so they may have met then?? ( HER LIFE IN LONDON : "I had become acquainted with one of the biggest art dealers there, & then began the long series of visits I used to pay to the beautiful homes of his clients painting portraits,& that became my life for many years. I was hardly ever at home& if  i were to write all that transpired in different places, I should never finish, in fact I could  supply the press with some interesting details in the history of many well-known people, even our own Royal Family, as I would be staying for weeks, & meeting a stream of guests who were well up in all society gossip. Now I come to think of of it my life, at this time  was practically unknown to my family---after my sister and parents were gone. I somehow felt that my doings were of very little interest to them as they all had their own affairs to attend to. Also, you know the old saying about the prophet in his own country! I belonged to a very noted school in those days & nearly every one of the students was distinguished in some way or other---Many distinguished people, friends of our students constantly visited here: authors, painters & critics. Israel Zangwill [ Successful novelist & early advocate of an Independent state for the Jewish people] gives an exact picture of our students in his novel 'The Master', & Jerome K Jerome, & many others of that period constantly looked in. Our visiting professor, Solomon Joseph Solomon R.A.  being Jewish, many high class Jewish people studied there, & we constantly went to their receptions, meeting such people as the Montefiores, the Rothschilds  & at one time we had a most lovely Indian princess as student. One of us in my time was Constance Gore-Booth, a lovely Irish girl, who later made herself famous as Countess Markiewicz [1868-1927]  & became a foremost leader in the Irish rebellion,---in fact, she was under sentence of death at one time. She, knowing that I wanted a skull in a picture I was painting, said "I'll bring you one when I go home" --- She kept her promise & brought it in a string bag in the bus one day & described with great glee the horror of the other passengers---She was very pretty and charming & the despair of her family. You will remember , perhaps, the name of  Allerley Glossop (1870-1955); she was one of our students & there was a paved portion of the studio where her horse models were brought in, just ordinary cart horses. She once bribed the driver of one of the buses to let her drive it from Piccadilly Circus to Hyde Park Corner! I spent a few days with her in Natal when I was in South Africa in 1949. She lived at Lions' River & I gave your father one of her studies (This was a study of a Donkey). --Viola Wolfe & I had a dear little studio in an old-fashioned part of London near Regent's Canal. It was a romantic spot with a tiny garden with a statue of the Farnese Hercules in the middle--- Many happy years were spent here, for in the next studio to ours were two Punch artists & they & their friends were a constant source of amusements. If I wrote all I knew about them I should again interest the journalists. Then there were  J W Waterhouse R A,   Sant R A   { William Holman Hunt} who painted "The Soul's Awakening, Phil May, of world fame, G D Armour,  sporting artist of Punch & Harold Miller, who did the illustrations to the fairy tales in  the Strand magazine of that day. They made some killing caricatures of us all & our friends, which Maurice Grueiffenhagen R A also added to. ANGLO-BOER WAR--Celebrities : I remember now, I have told you nothing about my connection with some of the great people in S. African history, such as J B Taylor, the Lionel Philips's, & the relatives of Cecil Rhodes, & Baden Powell, & one or two who were implicated in the Jameson Raid,  & under sentence of death at one time,  Jameson's brother also.--- I lived many months at a time with the Taylors at Sherfield Manor, painting.  ---When Mr Taylor was in the humour, he used to tell us thrilling tales of the early days at Kimberly & also how he got the nick name of 'God Almighty-Jim', but that is too long. He used to say he remembered Barney Barnato doing juggling tricks & turning somersaults on a piece of carpet in the street for money! ---In the midst of all this came the Boer War, a sort of preliminary canter to what we have experienced since, had we known it ! Of course  I was away from your father until this was over & he brought your Mother & the three boys to England. They stayed in London for a little time, & then he settled them in Brighton, before going back to South Africa alone.  I stayed with them there until he sent for them back, as he wanted your Mother to have company, we had a lively time with those three boys,---I can see them now in their sailor suits. They required some looking after with all their monkey tricks. King Edward the Seventh was then staying at Hove with Arthur & Louise Sassoon & one day Edwin ran full tilt at him. He got a smile from His Majesty!---Your mother & I walked miles to try to get another digs; but no one would take 3 boys, although we averred that they were as quiet as lambs. Then providence or principle, stepped in, & someone lent her a house with a servant provided, & this servant was a great help as she would take them for walks in the afternoon.  One day your Mother gave Geoffrey  the strap in her bedroom & I stood outside & begged her to let him off. On bath nights, I would say to Geoffrey: Now wait until I have got the other two out, but he would undress & rush in & jump into the bath on the top of them,---bang, splash! That winter there was a lot of snow, nearly unknown in Brighton. Geoffrey  was charmed. He immediately took a header into the midst of it, &  then demanded a brush & shovel to get it away from the front door. There were heaps of snow on the promenade & Roger  was scared of it,  & burst into tears. Roger had a set  of railway trains when they had to play indoors,& this caused squabbles at times. He would stake his claim in haste, on the sitting room floor in order to set them out, I say in haste, but I am wrong, for all his operations were conducted with a calmness from which nothing could budge him. Edwin who was rather short-tongued would complain to his Mother; "I wish you would speak to Roger, he is taking up the whole of the floor,& there is no room for us!" Meanwhile, Roger proceeded as before. In the garden they collected every kind of insect which they kept in boxes & fed on lettuce & other leaves. These got out sometimes & ran about, and your Mother & I sat with our legs up on our chairs. One morning before breakfast, I heard them having a consultation about these creatures, & one of them said ' Let's make worm chutney' . Horrible pictures in my mind, so I said afterwards I hope you are kind to all the little things in the garden & Edwin said 'oh yes Auntie', with a countenance of supreme innocence & benevolence. Two of our friends in Brighton we were glad of: Mrs Harold Farmer-Hall, & Nellie Beryl, whose names you may see as London practitioners in the Journal. The little Farmer-Hall boy used to join us on the beach when I was in charge, & they nearly drove us wild, as whatever mischief one did not think of, the others did.---Never shall I forget that day when we all set out for the docks at Southampton. Geoffrey  was in a state of the highest excitement, being firmly convinced that everything would go wrong if he did not take command. He ran up & down the platform, & shouted at the cab-driver 'Be careful, I know all that luggage will fall off' & indeed it looked like it. Edwin insisted on grasping in his hand a glass-bottle, containing a young oak tree which he had raised from an acorn & from which he refused to part. Roger maintained his usual attitude of placid calm! We parted on the deck of the Saxon & they all sailed away---I returned to London. The next event which took place was your own birth in Pretoria, & after that I can tell you nothing you do not know; & so farewell to memories. J H  Jan. 18/49 In  January 1950, A.J. Harrison sent G M Harrison a Wilkinson's tin containing  the lace center of Hannah Gosling's cap as an infant; a tiny brooch from which Mother's hair was taken & put at back of her miniature & Dear mother's hair cut off the day before she died A.J. H.; Seal of New Castle under Lyme. A note in G.M. Harrison's writing : Lace Veil--- Chrystal Palace at 1851 Exhibition Bought by Edwin Harrison's (Grandfather's) 2nd wife, who was a direct descendant of Bishop Ridley, who was burnt at the Stake in Mary's reign;  sent to G.M.H by Aunt Jane 4 January 1950.

A Jane Harrison made a copy of Velazquez's  1656 painting of Philip 1V of Spain when elderly, the original hangs in the National Gallery, London. This picture was given to Richard Bladen by Edwin Ronald Harrison.  

Miss Annie Jane Harrison (b.12-11-1862 d.15-5-1959) MINIATURE PAINTER:77 Liverpool Street, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffs: 1888 no 1522 The late Lady Betty, daughter of the Marquis of Stafford. 1889 no 1608 Green & gold.

         no 1638 Capt. A  Eardley-Wilmot.

         no 1672 Mrs A  Eardley-Wilmot

         128 Aldemey St, Westminster, S W 1 1892 no 1373 My late sister: Evelyn Alice Harrison. Exhibited in Royal Academy 1892. 1894 no 1275 Mrs  Alfred  William Harrison  {Museum}

          St Augustus Square, Regent's Park. 1896 no 1089 Psyche 1897 no 72 The time of roses. 1494 Juliet 1898 1267 C. Graham, Esq.

          no 1364 Beatrice.

          171 Stanhope Street, Camden, N W 1 1900 no 1442 Portrait of a lady. 1901 no 552 An allegory. 1902 no 1214 Maud.

         219 Maida Vale, St John's Wood W.9  1903 no 1159 Portrait of a Lady 1904 1284 Olivia..

STUDIO: 122 Southampton Row, W C 1 1906 no 1095 Mrs Lionel Rayner. Painted at Studio in Maida Vale about 1903. {Museum} 1908 no 1428 Portrait study. 1910 no 1133 Mrs Leonard Messel. 1911 no 1127 The Lady Muriel Willoughby.

         no 1152 The Lady Evelyn Guinness. 1912 no 1206 Sophia. 1913 no 1273 Mrs S E Letts. 1914 no 1612 Madonna and child.

c/o Miss Wolfe 37 Bloomsbury  Square, Camden, W C 1 1917 no 1086 Miss Viola Wolfe. 1934  no 1117 Althea, daughter of  H R Murray Philipson Esq., M P  of Stobo.[ Taken from Royal Academy (record of) Exhibitors 1905-1970 . List  compiled by Geoffrey M Harrison & supplied by Sally Nixon] A J Harrison also wrote a book "Masters & Models, Students & Studios". The manuscript was bound by Sybil Pye, Priest Hill, Limpsfield, Surrey, England. In 1888 Miss Annie Jane worked from 77 Liverpool Street, Newcastle under Lyme. In 1906, she had a studio in the West End : Studio,122, Southampton Row, London. In Masters & Models, Jane Harrison describes Seaforth & Scotland :  " out of my modest surroundings I was suddenly pitchforked into a castle in the far north of Scotland. In my wildest dreams I had never thought to visit that romantic land, much less stay in a historic castle, the home of the Seaforths--- it is a very bright memory in my experience."