Harold Brewer Hartley, 1878-1972

Abstract

Harold, as he liked to be called and was called by his innumerable friends, students and associates, was born on 3 September 1878, the son of Harold T. Hartley, a partner in the publishing firm of Emmot, Hartley & Co. He died on 9 September 1972, only a few days after celebrating his ninety-fourth birthday. Though he never became a public figure in the popular sense, his highly individual manner, his obiter dicta, his vast range of interests and knowledge, activities and influence, his self-confidence and drive, and his charm, combined to make him a legendary figure to the many who knew him. To judge only from the many anecdotes about him (‘Oh, what’s his name ? Begins with a G—Windaus!’) one might think him to have been a figure of comedy. Yet these were always told with affection and with respect, sometimes almost with an element of fear: he knew always so clearly what ought to be done, argued it so cogently, persuaded, almost forced, his hearer into undertaking it (a process that came to be known as ‘Hartling’) that one always wondered with what undertaking one would leave an inteview with him.