Dumbarton Castle in 1824. Harris is described as a man of unaffected bearing, kindly disposition and simple manners, and an excellent officer. Though economical he was never penurious. He is said to have lent his prize-money to the Madras government when short of cash, at considerable personal loss; and the accumulations of the bazaar fund during his Madras command he distributed among various charities. He nevertheless acquired considerable wealth, his personalty at his death being sworn under 90,000l. In a passage in his will he ascribed his 'rise from nothing to affluent fortune' to economy 'and willing privation from self-indulgence all through a long life.'
Harris married, 9 Dec. 1779), Ann Carteret, youngest daughter and heiress of Charles Dixon of Hath, and by her had William George, second lord Harris [q. v.], and three other sons and four daughters. He died at Belmont, Kent, in May 1829.
[A Life of Lord Harris (London, 1840), with portrait, was compiled by the late Right Hon. Stephen Lushington, sometime governor of Madras, who was Harris's son-in-law and private secretary at Madras. It contains a refutation of some statements made in Theodore Hook's Life of Sir David Baird. Particulars of Harris's services are also to be found in Cannon's Hist. Recs. fith Fusiliers, pp. 37-54, and 73rd foot, and in Philippart's Roy. Military Calendar, 1820, i. 35l; also in Ross's Cornwallis Corresp. vol. ii.; Mill's Hist. India, vols. v. vi.; Marquis Wellesley's Desp. vol. i.; Gurwood's Well. Desp. vol. i. (introduction); Gent. Mag. 1829, pt. ii. 80, where are extracts from Harris's will. A letter from Harris appears in Blackwood's Mag. 1827. Harris's correspondence with the Marquis Wellesley is among the Mornington Papers in the British Museum, Addit. MSS. 13668 and 13727-9. Some of his letters on the state of Mysore form Addit. MS. 13665.]
HARRIS, GEORGE (1794–1859), unitarian minister, born at Maidstone in Kent on 15 May 1794, was son of Abraham Harris, unitarian minister at Swansea for upwards of forty years. George was at the age of fourteen placed in a Manchester warehouse in Cheapside, London, but, wishing to enter the unitarian ministry, gave up his place at a considerable pecuniary sacrifice. In his eighteenth year he entered the Islington Academy, then under the superintendence of John Evans (1767–1827) [q.v.] . In November 1812 he matriculated at Glasgow University, having obtained a bursary on the foundation of Dr. Williams's trust, and attended classes in Glasgow during three winter sessions. His studies were much interrupted by numerous engagements as a preacher and lecturer. The Scottish Unitarian Association was formed in July 1813. Harris was one of its originators, and was for three years its secretary. He also spent much time in establishing unitarian churches, principally in Paisley, Greenock, and neighbouring towns, and in directing unitarian stations, now numbering forty-two, in different parts of Scotland. In 1816 he issued ‘A Statement of the Principles of Unitarian Christianity addressed to the Inhabitants of Greenock and Port Glasgow, and to the Friends of Free Inquiry throughout Scotland, by a Unitarian,’ a clear and concise manual of unitarian teaching. By his exertions a unitarian chapel was erected in Port Glasgow. It was opened by him in January 1822; the sermon which he preached on the occasion was published. At this period he also published ‘Select Pieces for Reading and Recitation.’
In April 1817 Harris was invited to become minister of Renshaw Street Chapel, Liverpool, then vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Robert Lewin. He was inducted in July, and his strong convictions soon engaged him in numerous controversies. Many even of his own brethren censured his imprudent and needlessly severe attacks on evangelical doctrine. His pamphlet, ‘Unitarianism, the only Religion which can become Universal,’ and a course of Sunday evening lectures, afterwards published with notes and an appendix in an octavo volume, under the title of ‘Unitarianism and Trinitarianism contrasted,’ called forth trenchant replies. Dr. James Barr of Oldham Street Presbyterian Church, Dr. John Stewart of Mount Pleasant Secession Church, and Mr. Jones of St. Andrew's Church were his most prominent opponents. In 1818 Harris planned a ‘Unitarian Christian Association’ for the dissemination of unitarian literature, and he travelled through Lancashire and Cheshire to gain for it sympathy and support.
In the summer of 1821 a division occurred in the Bank Street unitarian congregation, Bolton, and in 1822 Harris accepted an invitation to become minister of the seceders. They first met at the Cloth Hall, but in 1823 the Moor Lane Church was purchased from the Scottish presbyterians. Harris was known in Manchester as ‘the intrepid champion of Socinianism.’ In 1822 he published ‘The Lancashire and Cheshire Unitarian Association, and the Christian Reflector vindicated;’ in 1823 he published an account of the formation of the Moor Lane congregation, some statements in which provoked replies from other clergymen; and in 1824 appeared ‘Christianity defended.’ In 1824 a speech by him in Manchester led to a long corre-
