George Harris (1809–1890) was an English barrister and judge, known as a biographer and legal writer. George Harris Autobiography

Early life

Born at

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

on 6 May 1809, he was the eldest son of George Harris (d. 16 January 1856), a solicitor of that town, by his wife Christabella, only daughter of Rear-admiral William Chambers (d. 28 September 1829). On 6 May 1820 he entered

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

. He found the school rough, and left to join HMS ''Spartiate'', the flagship of Admiral Sir George Eyre, as a midshipman; but falling ill before it sailed, he gave up the idea of entering the Royal Navy. After a bad time at a private school at

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...

in Devon he was articled to his father in 1825. In 1832 he was admitted as attorney, and in January 1834 became a partner in his father's firm. On 22 June 1838, however, he left Rugby and moved to London. After little more than a year in London, during which he wrote for the ''British and Foreign Review'' and other journals, and entered

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

, Harris took the post of editor of the ''Hull Times'' on 11 September 1839. An attack on the Hull railway line led to his resignation on 21 September 1840

Legal career

Harris entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in December 1839, and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 13 January 1843. He went the Midland circuit, but did not obtain a good practice. Having lost money in railway speculations, and spent time writing, he had money troubles, solved by his marriage in 1848. In April 1853, Harris filled the office of deputy court judge of the Bristol district, and early in 1861 he became acting judge of the county court at Birmingham. In 1862, he was appointed registrar of the court of bankruptcy at Manchester, a post which he retained until 1868, when ill-health compelled him to retire on a pension.

Later life

Harris was an active member of the

Anthropological Society of London The Anthropological Society of London (ASL) was a short-lived organisation of the 1860s whose founders aimed to furnish scientific evidence for white supremacy which they construed in terms of polygenism. It was founded in 1863 by Richard Francis ...

, and in 1871 was chosen a vice-president, a position which he retained on the formation of the Anthropological Institute in that year from the Anthropological Society and the

Ethnological Society of London The Ethnological Society of London (ESL) was a learned society founded in 1843 as an offshoot of the Aborigines' Protection Society (APS). The meaning of ethnology as a discipline was not then fixed: approaches and attitudes to it changed over its ...

. In an essay ''Plurality of Races, and the Distinctive Character of the Adamite Species'' he defended

polygenism Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that the human races are of different origins (''polygenesis''). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views no ...

, against biblical monogenism. He also supported

biological determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, whether i ...

of human intellectual capacities by gender. In 1876 Harris joined

Edward William Cox Edward William Cox known as Serjeant Cox (1809–1879) was an English lawyer and legal writer, who was also a successful publisher. He has been described as "the greatest entrepreneur of 'class' journalism". Early life Cox was born in Taunton, ...

in founding the Psychological Society, a group interested in

psychical research Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near- ...

, of which he became a vice-president. He was also a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

J. W. Burrow John Wyon Burrow, FBA (4 June 1935 in Southsea – 3 November 2009 in Witney, Oxfordshire)

J. W. Burrow John Wyon Burrow, FBA (4 June 1935 in Southsea – 3 November 2009 in Witney, Oxfordshire)Northolt Northolt is a town in West London, England, spread across both sides of the A40 trunk road. It is west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the seven major towns that make up the London Borough of Ealing. It had a population of 30,304 at ...

in Middlesex on 15 November 1890, at his residence Iselipps, an old manor-house that he had bought and enlarged.

Works

In 1847 Harris published his ''Life of Lord-chancellor Hardwicke'' (London, 3 vols.), dedicated to

Albert, Prince Consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861. Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...

. It was a critical but not a commercial success. In 1868 Harris lost a friend and patron by the death of

Lord Brougham Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, (; 19 September 1778 – 7 May 1868) was a British statesman who became Lord High Chancellor and played a prominent role in passing the 1832 Reform Act and 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. ...

. He contributed a ''Memoir'' of Brougham, with personal recollections, to the ''Law Magazine and Review'', and it was separately published in 1868. In 1876 he brought out his ''Philosophical Treatise on the Nature and Constitution of Man'' (London, 2 vols.), on which he had been working for most of his life. In 1888 he issued an ''Autobiography'' for private circulation, mainly extracts from his diary kept from 1832, and with a preface by his friend Benjamin Ward Richardson. Harris also wrote: * ''The True Theory of Representation in a State'', London, 1852; 2nd edit. 1857. * ''Civilization considered as a Science, in relation to its Essence, its Elements, and its End'', London, 1861; 2nd ed. 1872. * ''Principia Prima Legum; or, an Examination and Analysis of the Elementary Principles of Law'', London, 1865 (only part i. published). * ''The Theory of the Arts; or, Art in relation to Nature, Civilization, and Man'', London, 1869, 2 vols. * ''Supernatural Phenomena: Tests adapted to determine the Truth of Supernatural Phenomena'', London, 1874. Harris contributed papers to the ''Journal of the Anthropological Society'' and to ''Modern Thought''. He wrote legal biographies for the ''Law Magazine and Law Review'', including those of Lord Westbury, Lord Cranworth, Lord-chief-baron Pollock, and Lord Wensleydale.

Manuscripts commission

Harris proposed an official commission, to investigate and catalogue manuscripts of historical interest in private collections. In 1857 he first brought forward his idea in a paper read at Birmingham in October before the Law Amendment Society, ''The Manuscript Treasures of this Country, and the best Means of rendering them available'', published in the ''Transactions'' of the

National Association for the Promotion of Social Science The National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (NAPSS), often known as the Social Science Association, was a British reformist group founded in 1857 by Lord Brougham. It pursued issues in public health, industrial relations, penal ref ...

, of which Harris was an original member. He suggested the formation of a committee for the purpose of cataloguing and arranging manuscripts in private hands. The project was taken up by Lord Brougham, and Harris himself pushed for it. A memorial was presented to

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

on 9 July 1859 by a deputation with Harris as spokesman. Palmerston was interested, but the project met with opposition. The

Historical Manuscripts Commission The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (widely known as the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and abbreviated as the HMC to distinguish it from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England), was a United Kingdom Royal Com ...

was set up 2 April 1869, after which the work proceeded. Harris, however, had little or no connection with the project after 1859.

Family

On 12 December 1848 Harris married at

Bathwick Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre. Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum. The district became part of the Bath urban area with the 18th cent ...

Church, Bath, Elizabeth, only surviving child of George Innes (died 17 July 1842), master of the King's School, Warwick and rector of

Hilperton Hilperton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is separated by a few fields (the Hilperton Gap) from the northeastern edge of the town of Trowbridge and is approximately from Trowbridge town centre. South of Hilper ...

in Wiltshire.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, George 1809 births 1890 deaths English barristers 19th-century English judges English biographers Members of the Middle Temple Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge County Court judges (England and Wales)