Background
He was born the son of John Scandrett Harford, a prominent banker in the English city of Bristol and educated at Christ College, Cambridge.
He was born the son of John Scandrett Harford, a prominent banker in the English city of Bristol and educated at Christ College, Cambridge.
Harford had a sizeable portfolio, including the Blaise Castle estate at Henbury. This was originally property of Thomas Farr, but Farr went bankrupt in 1778 following the American Revolutionary War. The estate then changed hands a number of times until Harford eventually purchased the land and buildings.
lieutenant was previously owned by his father-in-law, Richard Hart Davis, who had built c.1812 a house within its bounds.
As such, it is on land donated by Harford that the Lampeter campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David now stands. A bust of Harford is in the collection of the University, and is currently on display in that institution"s main library building on the Lampeter campus.
Two halls of residence at the university, Harford I and Harford II, are also named after him. He was appointed High Sheriff of Cardiganshire for 1825-1826.
He was also a moderately successful artist, and his oil paintings can often be found at auctions in the United Kingdom. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1823.
In later life he went blind and died at Blaise Castle in 1866.
Royal Society.