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Sir Edward Harris (1575–1636) of Cornworthy in Devon, was an English-born judge and politician in seventeenth-century Ireland. He was Chief Justice of Munster in Ireland, and sat as Member of Parliament for Clonakilty 1613–15 in the Irish House of Commons of the Parliament of Ireland. He was the grandfather of the faith healer Valentine Greatrakes.

Elrington Ball describes him as a man who acquired "both wealth and friends" in Ireland.^[2] He was inclined to an ostentatious display of his riches, and often wore a valuable jewel on a gold chain.

Origins

He was born at Cornworthy in Devon, eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Harris of Cornworthy Priory, serjeant-at-law, by his wife Elizabeth Pomeroy (d.1634), daughter of Henry Pomeroy, who was a member of the ancient Anglo-Norman de Pomeroy family, feudal barons of Berry Pomeroy of Berry Pomeroy near Cornworthy.^[3] Sir Thomas Harris was called by his contemporary the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640) "a man much commended for his pregnant wit and learning".^[4] He sat in the House of Commons for many years, where he was noted both for his eloquence in debate and his diligence in committee work.

Sir Thomas Harris's father was Edward Harris (d.1592), son of Walter Harris of Monmouthshire.^[5] The elder Edward had purchased Cornworthy Priory at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.^[6] Edward's elder sister Anne (1574-1636) became on her first marriage to Sir Thomas Southwell Anne Lady Southwell: she was a noted poet.^[7]

Career

Edward entered Middle Temple in 1598 and was called to the bar in 1599. In 1608 he was sent to Ireland as Chief Justice of Munster. From the beginning of his career in Ireland he was a close associate and personal friend of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, who having emigrated from England in 1588, quickly became the dominant political figure in Munster. As Lord Cork's nominee, Harris sat in the Irish House of Commons in the Irish Parliament of 1613–15 as one of the two members for Clonakilty, a borough newly created at Lord Cork's instigation as part of his plan to build a political "empire" in the south of Ireland. In 1617 Harris received a special grant of land for his "extraordinary services to the Crown" and was knighted in 1619. In 1623 he was appointed a Justice of the Court of King's Bench in Ireland. He was Treasurer of the King's Inn in 1632.

Marriage & progeny

All his sons had died without issue before 1645, at which time his female heirs were involved in bitter and protracted litigation over the inheritance.

Death & burial

He died in County Cork in 1636 and was buried in Kilcredan cemetery, near Ladysbridge, County Cork. It seems probable, from the inscription which was later added to the impressive monument to his father which still survives in St Peters Church, Cornworthy, that he was re-interred at Cornworthy. The inscription is as follows:^[10]

A monument (now very badly damaged) to Edward Harris and his first wife Elizabeth Fowell survives in the ruins of Kilcredan Church in Cork.

His will, as so often in that era, was a source of contention among his family and led to decades of litigation between his heirs. Philippa, the widow of his son Arthur, filed a lawsuit against his surviving daughters, Mary Greatrakes and Philippa Tynte, and his grandson John Lancaster, son of Elizabeth Lancaster, claiming that she had been deprived of her rights under Sir Edward's will.^[11]

Sources

References

1. ^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.452
2. ^Ball, F. Elrington, The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921, London, 1926
3. ^https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/pp/pomeroy1.php
4. ^Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.167
5. ^Vivian, p.452, pedigree of Harris of Cornworthy
6. ^Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.292
7. ^Jean Klene, ‘Southwell , Anne, Lady Southwell (bap. 1574, d. 1636)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 12 Oct 2017
8. ^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.370, pedigree of Fowell
9. ^Elmer The Miraculous Conformist Appendix 1 "Family Tree"
10. ^[https://sites.google.com/site/harrisgenealogy/contents/the-ancient-family-of-harris/harris-of-cornworthy Image and transcript see]
11. ^Elmer p.31