Australian Dictionary of Biography

Samuel Henry (Harry) Ervin (1881-1977), woolbroker and benefactor, was born on 21 January 1881 at Monkland, Queensland, fourth and youngest child of Samuel Ervin (d.1881), a miner from Ireland, and his German-born wife Matilda, née Ostwald. Matilda married Ernest Theodor Henry Rohde in 1883 and the family moved to Sydney. As a schoolboy, Harry used his stepfather's surname, grew up at Mosman, attended Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) and frequented the artists' camp at Sirius Cove.

On leaving school, Ervin worked in woollen mills in Europe to gain experience of all aspects of the industry. Back in Sydney, his brother-in-law Karl Lothringer arranged for Harry to buy for the Belgian firm of Hauzeur-Gerard Fils of Verviers. During World War I Ervin took over Lothringer & Co.; he established S. H. Ervin Ltd, woolbrokers, in 1927. At the district registrar's office, Mosman, on 7 April 1926 he married 38-year-old Muriel Beatrice Gray, daughter of J. G. Appel; she had two daughters from her previous marriage. From 1929 the Ervins lived at Glanworth, Darling Point, until moving in 1946 to the Astor flats, Macquarie Street. Influenced by the artists of Sirius Cove, as early as 1905 Ervin had purchased works from Charles Conder, J. J. Hilder, Norman Lindsay, Sydney Long, H. S. Power, Tom Roberts and (Sir) Arthur Streeton. For most of his life he bought and sold paintings, antique furniture, porcelain, bronzes and other works of art.

In World War II Ervin was a senior appraiser under the United Kingdom Wool Purchase Arrangement. His firm benefited from the wool boom in the 1950s: because he worked on a commission basis, his personal income increased with the rise in wool prices. He retired shortly before H.G.F. collapsed due to its losses in the Belgian Congo.

When legislation was passed in the 1960s to allow taxation exemption for cultural gifts to the nation, Ervin became a substantial benefactor. In 1962 he gave his collection of paintings (later valued at about £200,000) to the Commonwealth of Australia to encourage the government to erect a national art gallery. He donated $50,000 to the New South Wales branch of the National Trust of Australia in 1971 to purchase Lindsay's home at Springwood. Influenced by his offer to donate $200,000 to restore two buildings at Observatory Hill as an art gallery and museum, in 1974 the State government made the former Fort Street Girls' High School available to the National Trust for headquarters. Ervin was deeply concerned about the protection and presentation of Australia's heritage; he bought works of art, donated them to the S. H. Ervin gallery and established a fund for future purchases.

A dapper little man with a charming smile, Ervin mostly dressed in a grey suit and bow tie. He was shy and reserved, and often walked by himself in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Predeceased by his wife and stepdaughters, he died on 29 October 1977 at the Astor and was cremated. He bequeathed the residue of his estate to the National Trust, bringing his total donations to about $1.25 million. A portrait of Ervin by Sir William Dargie is in the Queensland Art Gallery and one by Reginald Campbell in the S. H. Ervin Museum and Art Gallery, Observatory Hill, Sydney.