Harrod, Frank Stanley (1881-1954), bookplate designer

• Harrod, Stanley (usual name)

Stanley Harrod was born in Leeds on 9 July 1881, the son of Frederick Harrod, who was married at Leeds in 1877. He emigrated to Canada in 1906, where he took up residence in Toronto. Not long after this date his father was recorded as being resident in Buenos Aires.

After following a seafaring career, Stanley became an engineer, but by the time he went to Canada, or at least shortly afterwards, he had turned his attention to art.

In 1917 the International Studio, which called him a 'draughtsman of talent', outlined his particular talents as follows. 'He uses various mediums with facility, such as etching, pen and ink, and wash, but his special forte is lettering, and his services in this connexion have been largely drawn upon by Government departments, the Press, and, latterly, by the Central Technical School of Toronto, where he has had charge of a class of students in this branch of graphic art.'

He developed in time a particular interest in the creation and collecting of bookplates, and his skill and interest in this area are noted in A List of Canadian Bookplates (1919), which he helped to compile.

He died at Newmarket, Ontario, in Canada, on 8 June 1954.

The International Studio, Nov. 1817, p. 38 A List of Canadian Bookplates, ed. Winward Prescott, compiled by Stanley Harrod and Morely J. Ayearst (1919)
A Catalogue of Bookplates Designed by Stanley Harrod, by A. Fowler (1919)
Minutes of the Board of Education, Toronto, 20 Apr. 1916, etc.