Alexander Harris (7 February 1805 – 1 February 1874) was a soldier, teacher and author known for his early accounts of
convict life in Australia.
He arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 1825 and returned to London, England, in 1841.
He had numerous jobs including a soldier, clerk, a tutor and a timber-getter. He travelled mostly around the
Hunter Region
The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...
, the
Shoalhaven,
Illawarra, and
Bathurst in
New South Wales. In 1851 he emigrated to the United States. He emigrated to
Berlin, Ontario
)
, image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg
, image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg
, image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg
, image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg
, blank_emblem_type = ...
, on the outbreak of the U.S. civil war in 1861 and died in Copetown, Ontario, on 1 February 1874.
Family
Alexander Harris married Ursula Carr. They had several children including a son, Robert Carr Harris, who was born in 1843. Robert Carr-Harris, a professor of engineering at the
Royal Military College of Canada and his wife Ellen Jane Fitton Carr-Harris had several children: Mary Alexandria (b. 1 Mar 1875); Ferguson (b. 25 Dec 1877); Captain Ernest Dale (b. 14 Feb 1878); #555 Robert R. (civil engineer b. April 1881); Athol (civil engineer b. Sep 1883); Grant (b. Jun 1898); Guy (b. Jun 1898), #1325 Lorne Howland (b. 1899). All of Robert Carr Harris's sons and two of his nephews were cadets at the
Royal Military College of Canada in
Kingston, Ontario. Alexander Harris's grandson Grant Carr-Harris wrote the biography 'The secrets of Alexander Harris' in 1961. Grant Carr-Harris also wrote 'Carr-Harris – history & genealogy' (Toronto 1966).
Lorne Carr-Harris
Lorne Howland Carr-Harris (15 December 1899 – 7 April 1981) was a British ice hockey player who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics. He was the goaltender of the British ice hockey team, which won the bronze medal. He was a member of the t ...
was the goalie on the British
ice hockey team which won the bronze medal at the
1924 Winter Olympics
The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (french: Iers Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 ( frp, Chamôni 1924), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France ...
in Chemoix, France.
Captain Ernest Dale Carr-Harris R.E., who died on 3 November 1914 at 36 years of age, was commemorated on page 565 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.
[http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=1422291 Captain Ernest Dale Carr-Harris]
Bibliography
* ''Settlers and Convicts: Recollections of sixteen years labour in the Australian backwoods'' (London, 1847)
* ''Testimony to the Truth: or the Autobiography of an Atheist'' (1848)
* ''The Emigrant Family: or the Story of an Australian Settler'' (Smith, Elder and Co, 1849)
* ''A Guide to Port Stephens in New South Wales, the colony of the Australian Agricultural Company (1849)
* ''Religio Christi'' (1858)
* ' 'Alexander Harris: A Mystery No More' ' (Lorraine Neate, 2000)
* ' 'The Real Alexander Harris: a study in guessing, prejudice and detection' ' (Joseph Davis, 2011)
* ' 'The Early Life of Alexander Harris (author of Settlers & Convicts) as recorded in the Saturday Evening Post between March and October 1858 (Joseph Davis, 2020)
* ' 'The Unexpurgated Version of the time Alexander Harris (author of Setters and Convicts) spent as a Clerk in Illawarra until absconding from his position in late 1828' (Joseph Davis, 2020)
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Electronic copy of ''Settlers and Convicts''(University of Sydney)
*
ttp://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemdetailpaged.aspx?itemid=65704 Alexander Harris, Robert Carr-Harris (son), and Grant Carr-Harris (grand-son) fonds in the State Library of New South Wales.Lorraine Neate, 'Alexander Harris: A Mystery No More', National Library of Australia Catalogue ID 2216523* Joseph Davis (2011):https://www.academia.edu/36819073/THE_REAL_ALEXANDER_HARRIS_a_study_in_guessing_prejudice_and_detection
* Joseph Davis (2020)
Joseph Davis (2020a)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Alexander
1805 births
1874 deaths
19th-century Australian novelists
Australian male novelists
Australian memoirists
English emigrants to colonial Australia
Convicts transported to Australia
19th-century male writers
19th-century memoirists