He began painting miniatures at an early age, and on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who had seen some of his work, he came to London in 1793.
Hargreaves bound himself by indenture to serve as apprentice to Lawrence at a salary of fifty guineas per annum for two years from March 1793, and remained with him some time longer.
On the foundation of the Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street in 1824, Hargreaves became an original member, and contributed to its exhibitions.
W. E. Gladstone and his sister together as children, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, James Bartleman, the musician (afterwards in the South Kensington Museum), and others.
One of them, George Thomas Hargreaves, born in 1797, was also a member of the Society of British Artists, and died on December 18, 1869.