The artist was a Canadian born in Cambridge, England, who visited and exhibited at St Ives between 1911-1912 where he also became engaged to a fellow Canadian artist, Henrietta HANCOCK, who had travelled with him from Canada. They returned to Canada in 1914, and Harry contributed a painting (A Rocky Coast) to the Patriotic Fund in Toronto, together with other artists supporting the war effort.

His style, as seen in his paintings Serenity and Mending (a fisherman mending his nets), is strongly evocative of the storytelling genre paintings of Newlyn. His portrait was painted by his wife Henrietta Britton, and his likeness (c1920s) can be seen on-line at North Shore Canadian Art. The couple settled in Nova Scotia, and both are considered distinguished Canadian artists.