Mason, Harold Clayforth 1892 - 1960

Harold Clayforth Mason was born in Ambleside, Westmorland, England on 16 August 1892 and was the son of William Lovell Mason (1865-1915), an architect.  After receiving initial training from his father, he entered the University of Liverpool School of Architecture in 1909 and was awarded a Cert.Arch. in 1911. He then moved to London to work as an assistant to C. H. B. Quennell, while at the same time studying at the Royal Academy Schools.

After war military service  in India and the Middle East, from 1914 to 1920. he joined the Public Works Department in Iraq as Assistant Government Architect, later Government Architect. He remained in Iraq until 1935 when he returned to England, where he formed the partnership J. M. Wilson & H. C. Mason with James Mollison Wilson who had formerly been Director of Public Works in Iraq.

Mason received the RIBA Medal for Drawing in 1913. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1920 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1927.  Among the honours he received were the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division); Order of the Rafidain of Iraq, Class III (Civil Division).

His address was given as 14 The Avenue, Cheam, Surrey in 1936 and 1939; 133 Moorgate, London in 1939; and 22 Wharf Street, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire in 1960. He died in Surrey on 10 January 1960