James Edward Harris (1 October 1838 – 30 November 1925) was an English

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in four important matches for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1859. He was born and also died at

Sharnford Sharnford is a village and civil parish in Blaby (district), Blaby of Leicestershire. The parish has a population of about 1,000, measured at the 2011 census as 985. The village is about four miles east of Hinckley, and is near to Aston Flamvil ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. Harris's top-class cricket career was largely confined to 1859, when he appeared as a batsman and bowler of unknown style in several non-first-class matches as well as in Cambridge's four first-class fixtures, which included the

University match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

. No great indication of his merits in either batting or bowling can be gained, as his bowling figures are incomplete and he never took more than two wickets in an innings, and his position in the batting order varied between the tail-end and occasional outings as an opening batsman.

Career outside cricket

Educated at

Sheffield Collegiate School Sheffield Collegiate School began in 1836 in new buildings on the corner of Ecclesall Road and Collegiate Crescent (now Grade II listed and part of Sheffield Hallam University). The school enjoyed academic success but lacked sound finances and ...

and then privately at home in Sharnford, Harris was an undergraduate at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, graduating in 1860. From university, Harris joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

as an officer in the 12th Regiment; he became a lieutenant in 1862, a captain in 1868, a major in 1881, a lieutenant-colonel in 1886 and a full colonel in 1890. His final appointment on half-pay was as Assistant

Adjutant-General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, from which he retired in 1894. In 1898 he is reported as living at

Earsham Hall Earsham House is a Georgian country house near the village of Earsham, Norfolk. It is a Grade II* listed building. The house is built in three storeys of red brick with a parapet and a slate hipped roof. It has a symmetrical 7-bay frontage, the ...

, Norfolk (but which is near to

Bungay Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at the neck of a meand ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

), but he later retired to his home county of Leicestershire where he became a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and a Deputy Lieutenant. He died aged 87 in Sharnford, near Hinckley, Leicestershire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, James 1838 births 1925 deaths English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Suffolk Regiment officers People educated at Sheffield Collegiate School