Henry James Haley was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England in 1874. He studied at the City and Guilds Art School in London, the Royal Academy Schools in London, and in Paris. He subsequently worked as a painter and wood engraver. By 1897 Haley was living in Dorton Street, Camberwell, Surrey [now London] and by 1911 had moved to 115 Angell Road, Lambeth, London. Towards the end of his life he lived in Winchester, Hampshire. Over a long career he exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the New Gallery, and the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, Gravers in London; and at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.

His work was also shown in the British section at the International Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904

Haley died in Winchester, Hampshire on 30 May 1964.