page_title: Harry Hems
section_title: Personality
hierarchical_section_title: Harry Hems / Personality
caption_attribution_description: English: Clifton Street Orange hall, Belfast (detail) Clifton Street Orange hall was completed in 1885 to a design by William Batt. The bronze of King William III is by Harry Hems (Exeter). It was unveiled in 1889. This photograph appears as a matter of architectural record only and should not be interpreted as expressing any opinion for or against the loyal orders.
context_page_description: Harry Hems was an English architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor who was particularly inspired by Gothic architecture and a practitioner of Gothic Revival. He founded and ran a large workshop in Exeter, Devon, which produced woodwork and sculpture for churches all over the country and abroad. He was also a philanthropist and an eager self-promoter. A large part of the collection of medieval woodwork that he accumulated during his working life is now in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
context_section_description: Hems was a hard worker – a report of 1879 said that "he is 'always at it' from six in the morning until nine at night, and often much later", and he expected the same level of commitment from his workforce, apparently resorting to violence against them if they would not comply. In October 1878 he was charged £1 plus costs for fighting with one of his employees, and the following year a court was told that he had said that he would "break [William Mears] in as he had several of his other apprentices".
  He was also a flamboyant extrovert and a great self-promoter, making the most of any marketing opportunities that came his way. He had at least two well-publicised disputes with the Tax Commissioners. In September 1888 an auction of his goods on account of unpaid tax took place at his workshop in which one of the lots was a life-sized statue of St Matthew the Taxgatherer.
  After he again refused to pay the assessed amount of tax in 1907, another auction of his goods was arranged. It took place on 29 April that year, and he prepared the auction catalogue himself. The sale items included the crowbar that had been used by the bailiffs to gain entry to his workshop, a set of old stocks ("offering accommodation for three malefactors"), three "second-hand tombstones (slightly damaged) ... suitable for the graves of Income Tax Commissioners or other Revenue Officials", and his bulldog named Bob. According to his 1917 obituary, a sculpture of the Twelve Apostles was also included, and the event was widely reported at the time, with Hems making much of the way that he had made the Twelve Apostles pay his income tax.
  Hems was also a prolific contributor to newspapers, and journals such as Notes and Queries, and he retained cuttings of everything published that referred to him, in a series of at least 15 volumes of 400 pages each.
caption: Bronze of King William III, at Clifton Street Orange Hall, Belfast by Harry Hems
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