Freelance For Royal Doulton
Harradine had not been back in England for long when Charles Noke got to hear about him again and set up a meeting. He offered Leslie a job as a figure designer at the Burslem works but he refused. Leslie had grown to like his independence and wanted to work only for himself. He did, however, eventually agree to send Noke some samples of his models on a freelance basis and so, in 1920, the first of his Royal Doulton figures, HN 395, 'Contentment' was released.
Harradine provided a regular supply of figures to Royal Doulton for almost forty years but always on a truly freelance basis, Leslie was the one to decide what he would model, and when, and he would send these, maybe up to three at a time, on a monthly basis to the Burslem works. It is said that the other designers and painters would all gather round eagerly when his monthly shipment was unpacked to see what he had "come up with this time".
Many hugely popular models flowed from his small home studio. "Polly Peacham" and other figures from his rendition of The Beggars Opera. "The Balloon Seller" and "Flower Sellers Children" from the London street sellers series. The Dickens series, which was a particular favourite of Charles Noke's. and, of course, the slightly risque models of "The Bather" both swimsuit clad and nude.
Leslie Harradine loved children and often displayed his self taught conjuring skills for their amusement. He produced a series of "Child Studies" which were almost old fashioned in their conception and portrayal but they proved to be very popular with the buying public and stayed in production for many years. Other models, such as "The Rocking Horse" only stayed in production for a year or two and will be quite rare.
Yet another series of child studies, called the "Nursery Rhyme" series, bore a strong similarity to the work of Freda Doughty for Royal Worcester. These were equally popular and also stayed in production for many years.
Leslie eventually moved to Sark, a small member of the Channel Islands where no cars are allowed, and continued his modelling career from there. His new creations were shipped to the mainland and then on to the Potteries as before until the late 1950s when he eventually informed Royal Doulton of his intention to retire.
The last of his figures to have been released in the series was HN 2175 "The Beggar" which was a second version of the "Beggars Opera" series. This was released in 1956. Another model, "The Apple Maid" was released in 1957 but this bore an earlier number of HN 2160 and had, presumably, been modelled slightly earlier but taken longer to produce.
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