Munroe, Harold Bateman

   (1891–1966)

   Brother of Chester P.Munroe and boyhood friend of HPL. Like his brother, Harold was a member of the various gangs or boyhood groups in which HPL was involved, such as the Providence Detective Agency and the Blackstone Military Band. HPL reports that he and Harold were “Confederates in sympathy, & used to act out all the battles of the War in Blackstone Park” (HPL to Lillian D.Clark, [May 2, 1929]; ms., JHL). Not much is heard of Harold until August 8, 1921, when Harold, now a businessman as well as a deputy sheriff, peremptorily summoned HPL to revisit the Great Meadow Country Clubhouse, just across the state line in Rehoboth, Mass., which HPL and his friends had built around 1907, with the assistance of a Civil War veteran named James Kay. Harold and HPL resolved to resume holding monthly meetings at the clubhouse, along with other boyhood friends such as Ronald Upham and Stuart Coleman, but the plan was quickly forgotten. Munroe is not to be confused with Harold W.Munro, a classmate of HPL’s at Hope Street High School and author of the memoir “Lovecraft, My Childhood Friend” (1983; in LR).