Harold Mortimer-Lamb

Harold Mortimer-Lamb (1872 - 1970) was an Anglo-Canadian mining engineer, journalist, photographer, and artist perhaps best known for championing the Group of Seven in the 1920s. He was the father of New Brunswick artist Molly Lamb Bobak.

Early life

Harold Mortimer-Lamb was born in Leatherhead, Surrey, England on 21 May 1872. He immigrated to Canada in 1889, settling in British Columbia. He began his career as a farmhand, then became a layreader for an Anglican Church. He met and married Katherine Mary Lindsay in 1896, and had six children with her - one which was stillborn and one which died in infancy. Four sons lived to adulthood: Oliver, J. Haliburton (who became a soldier in the First World War), Willoughby, and Lawrence.

The family moved to Montreal and hired a housekeeper named Mary Williams (formerly Alice Price). Harold's wife Kate had begun to take ill and is described as "sickly" from now until the end of her life. At some point in their stay in Montreal, Harold experienced a mental-health crisis of some kind and resigned his position with the Canadian Mining Institute, wishing to return to BC; they instead instituted a transfer to the West Coast with a leave of absence.

In 1920, the family moved back to British Columbia, taking Mary Williams with them. At this time, Mary was pregnant with Harold's child; Molly Lamb was born in February 1920, just after the move. Mary Williams stayed with the Mortimer-Lamb family for 22 years. Kate died after 45 years of marriage to Harold. Mary and Harold never married. In 1942, Harold Mortimer-Lamb married Vera Weatherbie, a muse of Frederick Varley's and a school friend of Molly's. Harold was 70 and Vera 33 at the time; this marriage lasted 28 years, until Harold's death at the age of 99. He organized the first major Canadian exhibition of Pictorialist photography in 1907 with Sidney Carter. His daughter was Molly Lamb Bobak, a well-known Canadian artist, and Canada's first woman war artist.

Harold Mortimer-Lamb died in Burnaby, BC on 25 October 1970.

Publications Photograms of the Year (1895 - 1940) with Sidney Carter British Columbia Mining Record (ed.)