"[2] Handley-Read was born in Steyning, Sussex in 1916 to a father, Harry Read (1870–1935),[3] who was a magazine illustrator and military artist and a mother Eva Handley (1878–1965).

[4] In the thirties, he went up to St Catharine's College, Cambridge to read architecture, and upon graduation became art master at his old school, Bryanston.

[4] His career was interrupted by the Second World War during which, as a conscientious objector, he worked at the epileptic colony at Lingfield, developing art therapy for children.

[5] Following the exhibition, and his marriage to Lavinia Staunton, a devotee of Victorian sculpture, Handley-Read "pinned all his hopes and dreams on one all-consuming passion, the work of William Burges.

"[8] Accepting his own inability to undertake Burges's biography, Handley-Read wrote to a friend, Joseph Mordaunt Crook; "Now look.

The largest part of the collection to stay together was the 200 plus pieces purchased by The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford, including William Burges's own bed and dressing table.