A HARRIS family - DEVON, the CHANNEL ISLANDS, AUSTRALIA

HARRIS is one of the most common of surnames in England and Australia, and as such genealogical research can prove difficult, albeit rewarding, when discoveries are made.

The name HARRIS is commonly recognised as an English derivative of the colloquial pronunciations of the name of Henry (Herry and Harry ) . All the English kings that we now call Henry were known in their time as Harry, and the first King Harry was the first Norman king to be born on English soil. There were subsequently many King Harrys and the name of Harris therefore became very popular.

The origins of the name Henry go back to old Germany. The name Heimirick, which was a compound of the words haimi, meaning house, and ric, meaning ruler, became Latinised , with the coming of the Romans, to Henricus. Variations on this appear in many countries.

My Harris ancestors came from Devon, and with the help of history societies throughout Britain, Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey, and in Australia, with considerable personal research undertaken by my wife Yvonne and I, and others, trips to the little villages, towns and cities of the lands of the family in days gone by, a considerable history can now be written. The story is not complete however and I hope that it will be added to over the years with information as it becomes available. This is an abridged version of that history.

My Harris family can be traced back to the marriage of John Harris to Elizabeth Pilditch in the Church of All Saints in the little hamlet of South Milton , in the SouthHams area of Devon. The date of the marriage was the 6th of March, 1788.

At the time of his marriage John was of the parish however a record of his birth in 1758 has yet to be found. When he married he was 30 years of age, a carpenter by trade who could write and sign the marriage certificate.

The birth of Elizabeth Pilditch in 1762 took place in South Milton, her parents being John Pilditch and Elizabeth Woolridge. (1)

South Milton is a little thatched village in a deep Green valley off the main road from Kingsbridge going south To Malborough, in the area known as SouthHams. The SouthHams is an agricultural region of small farms, hamlets, some country houses and small estates, villages, towns and the port of Salcombe. It is guarded by moors and cliffs of the sea. Towns include Thurlestone, Inner and Outer Hope, Malborough, Salcombe, Kingsbridge and South Milton itself.

The area is watered by rivers, streams and springs and has an abundance of flora and fauna which thrive in the milder climate of the south. Despite the milder climate, in winter fogs, mists and cool winds roll in from the nearby south coast. (2)

What was the Devon area of the SouthHams, and its people like in the late 1700s; for this we can refer to an account by a William Marshall, one of the best known writers of his time on farming in England.

Concerning its people he said that the "Natives of Devonshire are mostly of good person; tall, straight and well featured." He then went on to say however that the middle class had nothing notable about them except an overrated estimate of themselves and he did not think much either of the labourers of Devon. The latter he saw as "below par: many of them drunken, idle fellows, and not a few of them may be said to be honestly dishonest..."

He observed that the lower classes lived in miserable conditions, food prices having risen greatly as a result of the incessant wars; there was a chronic shortage of accommodation, and farm workers were at the mercy of their landlords. (3)

It is evident that at the time that John Harris married Elizabeth Pilditch the life of the average family was a difficult one.

Whilst John and Elizabeth lived in an agricultural area, there was always a strong connection with the sea, much movement of people and goods took place on boats , and the nearby towns, particularly Salcombe being an important trading port.

In the SouthHams area John and Elizabeth had eight recorded children, possible nine. Their children were Jenny, John, Richard, Agnes, Francis, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary , and possibly William all of whom were born between 1789 and 1806. The births all took place at South Milton, except for Richard who was born at nearby South Huish, and William , at Salcombe. (4)

The daughters of John and Elizabeth remained in the South Milton area, marrying farmers, or farm workers. Jenny married a John Moore, whose family retained a farm in the area until at least the middle of the 20th century, Mary married a farmer George or John Crimp, Agnes married a Roben Winsor, a farm worker of South Milton (5), and Elizabeth married a William Phillips and subsequently had six children. Later descendants of the Phillips family moved to London in search of work, before eventually moving to Essex.

The sons of John and Elizabeth needed however to move further afield to make a living , like many of their countrymen. Unfortunately Francis for some reason did not succeed, he died at the young age of 19. (6)

The son Richard, born is South Huish in 1804, grew up in Salcombe where his father had gone to practice his trade.

From the late 1700s on trade ex the United Kingdom flourished, and by the standards of those days, large shipyards were built at Salcombe. Between the 1790s and the 1880s at least 200 vessels were built and launched from those yards. there was employment for many in the yards, including for those specialised in the making of blocks, pumps, casks, spars, masts, and wooden nails. (7)

Richard married Sarah Gardener at Salcombe on the 1st of August, 1831. (8)

John Harris, the other son, was a bit more venturesome and went to Portsea, the island of Portsmouth, in Hampshire, where his wife Mary gave birth to one of their sons, Richard, in 1831. John and his family did however subsequently return close to the land of his father when he joined his brother Richard at Salcombe in the late 1830s. (9)

It was at Salcombe that three more of John and Marys children, Thomas, Francis and Eliza were born. The place of the birth of Johns first known child, William, in 1826, has not been established, nor has the place of their marriage although this is most likely to have occurred in the South of Devon. It is known that Mary was some six years younger than her husband and had previously been married to a Mr Mock. The names Mock and Humble seem to go together. (10)

John Harris, senior and his wife Elizabeth ( nee Pilditch ), remained in the area where they finished their lives shortly thereafter in 1840 and 1847 respectively. Both are buried in the same church of All Saints at South Milton where there marriage started in 1788. (11)

Both John, senior and his wife Elizabeth passed away in the house known as Trutes in South Milton village. It was comprised of two cottages back in the 1700s, one up and one down. In the 1840s it was owned by a William Roope Ilbert with an orchard, facing a stream and garden, with hilly ground at the rear. (12)

Another house in which the Harris family lived from the 1760s up to the end of the 18th century was known as " Sweets". That house was at the other end of the South Milton Village and it also exists to this day. (13)

By the late 1830s events of the day again were to affect the Harris brothers and their families at Salcombe.

By this time the war with France had finished, travel by sea was much safer, and the decline in wooden sailing ships started due to the introduction of steam and steel framed vessels. The result was less work in construction and repair of boats at Salcombe. John the Naval carpenter, and Richard the shipwright, therefore had to look elsewhere to deep sea fishing ports, dockyards and other places where work in their trades was available.

Accordingly John, his wife Mary and their four children, Richard, Thomas, Francis and Eliza along with Richard and his wife Sarah, and their three children, William , Elizabeth and Henry all migrated to the Channel Islands.

The other possible son of John and Elizabeth , namely William, born at Salcombe in 1806, is believed to have also migrated to the Channel Islands.

By the early 1840s a trip to the Channel Islands was a relatively easy one to make, indeed by then regular passenger services had been introduced. It is interesting to note that at the time of the 1841 census there were only 24 people with the surname Harris on the islands of Guernsey and Alderney, by 1851 however that number had increased to over 70. (14)

In the Islands, the Bailiwick of Guernsey consists of a group of small islands lying close to the coast of France, south east of England. Guernsey is the largest of its bailiwick and as with all of the islands the sea is a major influence.

Over the years Guernsey fought off a number of attempts by the French to capture the Island, but the links with the neighbouring Normandy were to remain for many years. Guernsey people spoke Norman French and even into the 20th century official documents were written in the French language.

During the wars of the 18th century Guernsey grew rich on the profits of privateering. The threat of a French invasion grew and the island was fortified and garrisoned until it resembled a giant armed camp. In the long years of peace that followed the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo , Guernsey extended its trade and prospered.

It was at this time that the Harris family arrived on the island. New housing estates were being opened up, swamp areas were being drained and the ship building industry was thriving.

The northern island of the group, Alderney, retained its strategic importance to England and at the time of the arrival of the family a large breakwater was under construction.

The Island of Alderney is about three and a half miles long, and no more than one and a half miles wide. It lies some nine miles away from the French coast and to this day remains a quiet island. The peace of this island , like Guernsey, has however been threatened by invasions over the centuries. For example in the 1790s when the Harris family were still in Devon, the threat of a French invasion led to the British government stationing over 300 men on the island. They, and successive garrisons over the years were housed in a number of forts , one of the oldest being known as the Nunnery. (15)

It was to this Island that members of the Harris family came, and to the Nunnery, where Richard, second son of John, met his wife at Bute's Barracks, where she lived with her mother and father who had married there earlier. (16)

The brotherly spirit of John and Richard was evident in the islands, both spending time on Alderney and Guernsey. John and his wife Mary had a further child Elizabeth, born on Guernsey; Richard and Sarah had a further three children, Charles, Thomas and Sarah born on the same island. (17)

In 1861 John and his family and Richard and his lived in adjoining houses in Distillery Road , near Bouet, a suburb of St Peter Port. Both John and Richard saw out the rest of the days in these islands, passing away in 1862 and 1888 respectively.

It is evident that the brother John had a full life before his death at the age of 69 years. Following the death of his first wife, Mary, he remarried a second wife, Elizabeth [nee Foot]. The 1862 census, taken one year before Johns death, shows another two children, Emily and Henry , born 1857 and 1860 , as being his offspring. John died, and is buried at St Johns , Bouet. Confirmation that Emily and Henry were in fact children of John has yet to be obtained. (18)

Of the children of John that went to the Channel Islands with him it is known that his second child, Richard married Mary Anne Begg, daughter of Sgt James Begg of the Royal Invalid regiment, at Alderney in 1856. Richard and his wife subsequently lived on Guernsey at Longstore, Ville de Rue, Les Canichers, Bruce Lane Steps and Le Pollet [ all in St Peter Port] whilst working in a variety of occupations including porter, carpenter and sailor. The sea connection still existed. (19)

Richard and his wife Mary Anne had eight children; Richard, Aubrey, Arthur, Mary Ann, Edith, Isabella , Bertha and Florence. The first son whose name in full was Richard William Francis Harris, and the second son, Aubrey James Harris, were born on the island of Alderney, the rest of the children on Guernsey. (20)

Johns third son, Thomas Humble Harrris married the daughter of his stepmother, Elizabeth Saunders, nee Foot, and he and his wife Sarah , nee Saunders, subsequently had seven known children, William, Alice, Amelia, Frederick, Thomas, Walter and Arthur between 1864 and 1884 on Guernsey. (21)

Many members of the family of Thomas Humble Harris and his descendants lived on the Island of Guernsey, at St Sampsons , for many years. At the local church they were baptised, married and buried. Unfortunately many of their graves, and their remains have slid down and ended up in the adjoining quarry.(22)

Eliza Jane Harris, born Salcombe 1834, daughter of John and Mary Humble, married a William Ebernstein at a young age and migrated to Wales between 1869 and 1871. One branch of her descendants migrated to Canada where they still reside at the start of the 21^st Century.

The brother Richard's first son, William, married Priscilla Fanny Wade, from Devonport in Devon, on Guernsey and subsequently had at least two children, Priscilla and Henry who were born in 1862 and 1872 respectively. (23)

The last years of Richard's life were apparently not that pleasant . On the 28th of January, 1879 at the age of 75 years he was admitted to the Town Hospital by reason of infirmity. On the 14th of October 1881 , aged 77, he was discharged by the Committee, however on the 11th of October 1884 at the age of 80 he was readmitted with rheumatism, by order of Constable Carey, and on the 27th of August, 1888, " Richard Harris, a poor inmate, died at half past four in the morning". (24)

Between 1840 and 1880 it is evident that the family spirit of John, Richard and their descendants remained intact, they lived physically close to each other, their movements to Alderney and Guernsey tie in with each other and the names that they gave to their children were the names common to the various branches of the family.

The brothers retained their link with the sea with their occupations of sailor, shipwright, naval carpenter, and blockmaker. The shop that existed in Le Pollet in St Peter Port up to at least the early 1900s, trading under the sign of Harris and Sons, shipping supplies, was a family business confirming the sea relationship of the family.

Guernsey in 1840 faced a massive ship rebuilding program following the cessation of the hostilities with France. At St Peter Port there were some 14 separate ship building yards, and St Sampsons had 7. It is no surprise therefore that the Harris families moved there. (25)

In the 1870s however the supremacy of iron and steam ships took over the islands and thus a later generation of the family were faced with the same decisions that their forebears had faced back in Devon in the 1840s.

Obviously this was a major consideration for Richard, the second son of John Harris, and his wife Mary Ann Begg with three sons, Richard William Francis, Aubrey James Harris and Arthur all either engaged in ship related employment, or most likely to be. In addition there were five daughters to be provided for.