Harry Leith-Ross was a painter, illustrator, muralist and teacher. He was born on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean on January 27, 1886. He received his early education in England where he studied engineering for two years at the University of Birmingham. In 1903, Leith-Ross came to the United States, living in New Mexico and Denver for a period of time. In 1909, Leith-Ross traveled to Paris and studied at the Academie Delecluse and the Academie Julian with Jean-Paul Laurens. He would also study at the Royal Academy in London with Stanhope Forbes. In 1910, Leith-Ross returned to the United States and continued his art studies; attending the National Academy of Design in New York where he worked with C.Y. Turner. The year 1913 was pivotal for Leith-Ross as he attended the summer school of the Art Students League in Woodstock, New York and the New Hope impressionist painter, John Folinsbee.

Leith-Ross first visited New Hope in 1914 and continued to visit frequently until he moved to the area permanently in 1935. The following year he was elected an academician at the National Academy of Design. Leith-Ross consistently exhibited work at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Salmagundi Club, New York; and the American Watercolor Society, New York. Leith-Ross also taught at Woodstock, New York; Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts; New Hope; University of Buffalo; University of Utah and the College of Southern Utah.

Harry Leith-Ross died on March 15, 1973. He was eighty-seven.