Patience Harris

Patience Glossop Harris was the daughter of Augustus Glossop Harris, an actor and theatre manager, and Maria Ann (née 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 actress 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 favouring 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 costume designer.^[3][4]

Harris's mother operated her costume business under the name "Madame Auguste" and supplied costumes to, among others, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1880s.^[5] Under the same name, Harris supplied costumes to D'Oyly Carte for seven productions from 1892 to 2001.^[6]

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 [7]}