Patience Harris

Patience Glossop Harris (1857 - December 1901), was a British costume designer for the theatre best known for her work with the actor Ellen Terry.

Biography

Patience Glossop Harris was the daughter of Augustus Glossop Harris, an actor and theater manager, and Maria Ann (Bone) Harris, a theatrical costumier.[1] She had two sisters, Ellen (Nelly) and Maria, and two brothers, Charles and Augustus, an actor and theatrical manager.[1][2]

Harris oversaw the actor Ellen Terry's costumes during the first decade of Terry's career at the Lyceum Theatre, from the late 1870s to the late 1880s[2] During this period, Harris designed elaborate, heavy costumes in luxurious fabrics for Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado About Nothing, among other plays.[2]:289–94 In 1882, Terry brought the costume designer Alice Comyns Carr on board as a consultant.[2]:304 Harris and Carr worked together until 1887, but their tastes differed, with Carr favoring simpler, more flowing designs in the Aesthetic dress style.[2]:304–307 Their disagreements reached a head in 1887 over designs for the plays Henry VIII and The Amber Heart, and Harris resigned.[2]:304[3] Carr succeeded her as Terry's head costumer designer.[3][4]

Information is lacking about the succeeding decade of Harris's career. At the time of her death, she was working under the company name Auguste et Cie.[2]:288 Costumes bearing this label were worn by both Terry and the actor-manager Henry Irving.[2]:288

The circumstances of Harris's death provoked an inquest, and it was suggested that she may have died of alcoholism.[2]:288[5]

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References
  1. "Augustus Henry Glossop Harris, 1852-1896" The Correspondence of James MacNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow.
  2. Isaac, Veronica Tetley. "'Dressing the Part': Ellen Terry (1847-1928)". PhD dissertation, University of Brighton, 2016.
  3. "The Actor and the Maker: Ellen Terry and Alice Comyns-Carr". Victoria and Albert Museum website.
  4. Comyns Carr, Mrs. J. (Alice Comyns Carr). Mrs. J. Comyns Carr's 'Reminiscences' . London: Hutchinson, 1926.
  5. "Death of Miss Patience Glossop Harris". The Derbyshire Times, 4 January 1902.


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