# Patience Harris

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{{Short description|British costume designer (1857–1901)}}
'''Patience Glossop Harris''' (1857 – December 1901), was a British costume designer for the theatre best known for her work with the actor [Ellen Terry](/source/Ellen_Terry) early in her career.

==Biography==
Patience Glossop Harris was the daughter of [Augustus Glossop Harris](/source/Augustus_Glossop_Harris), an actor and theatre manager, and Maria Ann ({{nee}} Bone) Harris, a theatrical costumier.<ref name=glasgow/> She had two sisters, Ellen (Nelly) and Maria, and two brothers, Charles and [Augustus](/source/Augustus_Harris), an actor and theatrical manager.<ref name=glasgow/><ref name=isaac/>

Harris oversaw the actress [Ellen Terry](/source/Ellen_Terry)'s costumes during the first decade of Terry's career at the [Lyceum Theatre](/source/Lyceum_Theatre%2C_London), from the late 1870s to the late 1880s<ref name=isaac/> During this period Harris designed elaborate, heavy costumes in luxurious fabrics for ''[Romeo and Juliet](/source/Romeo_and_Juliet)'', ''[The Merchant of Venice](/source/The_Merchant_of_Venice)'', and ''[Much Ado About Nothing](/source/Much_Ado_About_Nothing)'', among other plays.<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|289–94}} In 1882 Terry brought the costume designer [Alice Comyns Carr](/source/Alice_Comyns_Carr) on board as a consultant.<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|304}} Harris and Carr worked together until 1887, but their tastes differed, with Carr favouring simpler, more flowing designs in the [Aesthetic dress style](/source/Artistic_Dress_movement).<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|304–307}} Their disagreements reached a head in 1887 over designs for the plays ''[Henry VIII](/source/Henry_VIII_(play))'' and ''The Amber Heart'', and Harris resigned.<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|304}}<ref name=vam/> Carr succeeded her as Terry's head costume designer.<ref name=vam/><ref name=cc1926/>

Harris's mother operated her costume business under the name "Madame Auguste" and supplied costumes to, among others, the [D'Oyly Carte Opera Company](/source/D'Oyly_Carte_Opera_Company) in the 1880s.<ref>Theatre programmes, [Savoy Theatre](/source/Savoy_Theatre), London, for ''[Patience](/source/Patience_(operetta))'' (1881), ''[Iolanthe](/source/Iolanthe)'' (1882), ''[Princess Ida](/source/Princess_Ida)'' (1884), ''[The Mikado](/source/The_Mikado)'' (1885) and ''[Ruddygore](/source/Ruddygore)'' (1887)</ref> Under the same name, Harris supplied costumes to D'Oyly Carte for seven productions from 1892 to 2001.<ref>Theatre programmes, [Savoy Theatre](/source/Savoy_Theatre), London, for ''[Haddon Hall](/source/Haddon_Hall_(opera))'' (1892), ''[Utopia, Limited](/source/Utopia%2C_Limited)'' (1893), ''[The Chieftain](/source/The_Chieftain)'' (1895), ''[The Grand Duke](/source/The_Grand_Duke)'' (1896), ''[H.M.S. Pinafore](/source/H.M.S._Pinafore)'' (revival 1899), ''[The Rose of Persia](/source/The_Rose_of_Persia)'' (1899) and ''[The Emerald Isle](/source/The_Emerald_Isle)'' (1901)</ref>

At the time of her death she was working under the company name Auguste et Cie.<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|288}} Costumes bearing this label were worn by both Terry and the actor–manager [Henry Irving](/source/Henry_Irving).<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|288}}

The circumstances of Harris's death provoked an inquest, and it was suggested that she may have died of alcoholism.<ref name=isaac/>{{rp|288}}<ref name=dt1901/>

==References==
<references>

<ref name=cc1926>Comyns Carr, Mrs. J. (Alice Comyns Carr). ''Mrs. J. Comyns Carr's 'Reminiscences' ''. London: Hutchinson, 1926.</ref>

<ref name=dt1901>"Death of Miss Patience Glossop Harris". ''The Derbyshire Times'', 4 January 1902.</ref>

<ref name=vam>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-actor-and-the-maker-ellen-terry-and-alice-comyns-carr/ "The Actor and the Maker: Ellen Terry and Alice Comyns-Carr"]. Victoria and Albert Museum website.</ref>

<ref name=glasgow>[http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/people/biog/?bid=Harr_A4 "Augustus Henry Glossop Harris, 1852-1896"] ''The Correspondence of James MacNeill Whistler'', University of Glasgow.</ref>

<ref name=isaac>Isaac, Veronica Tetley. [http://eprints.brighton.ac.uk/16612/1/Binder1.pdf "'Dressing the Part': Ellen Terry (1847-1928)"]. PhD dissertation, University of Brighton, 2016.</ref>

</references>

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Patience Glossop}}
Category:1857 births
Category:1901 deaths
Category:British costume designers
Category:Place of birth missing
Category:Place of death missing
Category:British women costume designers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Patience Harris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_Harris) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_Harris?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.