Henry Joseph Moule

Henry Joseph Moule /ˈmoʊl/ (1825–1904) was an English watercolour artist, and friend of Thomas Hardy.

He was born at Gillingham, Dorset on 25 September 1825, the eldest of eight sons of Henry Moule, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, gaining a B.A.

In the early 1860s, he moved to Gatehouse of Fleet in Kirkcudbrightshire to be the factor on the Cally Estate for the owner Horatio Murray Stewart.

He was a close friend of Thomas Hardy for fifty years, their first meeting being shortly before 1854.

At this time, the Moule family were also friendly with the Reverend William Barnes, the Dorset poet and philologist who also acted as a mentor to Thomas Hardy.

Moule's undated watercolour, depicting Grange Court , Leominster, Herefordshire, in its original state and location