Background
Mitford-Barberton was born in Somerset East in 1896, he was a descendant of several 1820 Settler families.
Mitford-Barberton was born in Somerset East in 1896, he was a descendant of several 1820 Settler families.
From 1919 to 1922 he studied at the Grahamstown School of Art, and from 1923 at the Royal College of Art in London, under Henry Moore and Derwent Wood.
He did his schooling at Saint Andrew"s College, Grahamstown. In 1912 his family moved to Kenya, where he encountered African and Arab subjects that later formed an important theme in his work. From 1915 to 1918 he served as a soldier in East Africa.
He returned to Kenya in 1927 and set up a studio there.
Mitford-Barberton was an active member of the South African Society of Arts and taught art at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town. From 1947 to 1961, Mitford-Barberton was a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, 1957-1961 a Fellow of the Society and a member of the Theosophical Lodge Cape Town. He was a member of the Heraldry Council from 1963 to 1972.