James Harris, 2nd Earl of Malmesbury explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Earl of Malmesbury
Office:Governor of the Isle of Wight
Term Start:August 1807
Term End:10 September 1841
Predecessor:The Lord Bolton
Successor:The Lord Yarborough
Term Start1:March 1807
Term End1:August 1807
Successor1:Charles Bagot
Birth Name:James Edward Harris
Parents:James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
Harriet Maria Amyand
Children:James Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury
Edward Alfred John Harris
Charles Amyand Harris
Relations:Edward Harris, 4th Earl of Malmesbury (grandson)

James Edward Harris, 2nd Earl of Malmesbury (19 August 1778  - 10 September 1841) was a British peer, styled Viscount FitzHarris from 1800 to 1820.

Early life

Though the son of a great British statesman, James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, and the former Harriet Maria Amyand (1761–1830). Among his siblings were the Rev. Hon. Thomas Alfred Harris, Rector of Hartley, Lady Catherine Harris (wife of Gen. Sir John Bell), and Lady Frances Harris (wife of Lt.-Gen. Hon. Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, second son of William Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen).

His paternal grandparents were James Harris of Great Durnford (a grandson of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury) and the former Elizabeth Clarke (daughter and, eventual, heiress of John Clarke, of Sandford). His mother was the second daughter of Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet and Anna Maria Korteen (a daughter of John Abraham Korteen, of Hamburg, Germany).[1]

Career

Unlike his father, the young James Harris only dabbled in politics. His real interests lay in being a sportsman, and he was known for his meticulous records of what game he had killed and of the local and national British weather.[2] He built up an extensive collection of stuffed game, which was donated to various museums.[3]

A précis writer, Malmesbury served in the Home Office as private secretary to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs from July 1801 to July 1802 under Lord Pelham. He was first returned as a Member of Parliament for Helston in 1802, serving until 1804. He was a Lords Commissioner of the Treasury from May 1804 to February 1806 during the Second Pitt ministry while he represented Horsham as MP. He then was returned for Heytesbury from 1807 to 1812 and Wilton from 1816 to 1820.[4]

In 1804 he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel of the short-lived 2nd Wiltshire Militia.[5]

From March 1807 to August 1807, he served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under George Canning (while The Duke of Portland was Prime Minister), before becoming Governor of the Isle of Wight, in which role he until his death.[4]

Personal life

On 17 June 1806, he married Harriet Susan Dashwood (1783–1815), a daughter of Theresa Elizabeth March (daughter and co-heiress of John March of Waresley Park) and Francis Bateman Dashwood, of Well Vale, Lincolnshire. Her brother, Francis John Bateman Dashwood, married Georgiana Anne Anderson-Pelham (daughter of Charles Anderson-Pelham, 1st Baron Yarborough). Together, they were the parents of three sons:

His wife died in 1815 and was buried at Salisbury and later at the Priory Church, Christchurch, Hampshire. Lord Malmesbury died on 10 September 1841.[4]

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Book: Malmesbury . James Howard Harris Earl of . Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury: Containing an Account of His Missions to the Courts of Madrid, Frederick the Great, Catherine the Second, and the Hague; and His Special Missions to Berlin, Brunswick, and the French Republic . 1844 . R. Bentley . 10 November 2022 . en.
  2. Web site: Biology Collections Hampshire Museums Service . 20 January 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201754/http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/biology/collectors/malmesbury.html . 30 September 2007 . dead .
  3. Web site: Collections Online James Edward Harris, 2nd Earl of Malmesbury . www.britishmuseum.org . . 10 November 2022.
  4. Web site: HARRIS, James Edward, Visct. FitzHarris (1778-1841), of Heron Court, Hants. . www.historyofparliamentonline.org . . 14 November 2022.
  5. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/15716/page/824 London Gazette, 3 July 1804.
  6. Book: Fox-Davies . Arthur Charles . Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority . 1895 . Jack . 470 . 14 November 2022 . en.
  7. News: Whitehall, March 19, 1890. . 14 November 2022 . . 25 March 1890.
  8. Book: Knight . Henry Joseph Corbett . The Diocese of Gibraltar: A Sketch of Its History, Work and Tasks . 1917 . Society for promoting Christian knowledge . 77 . 14 November 2022 . en.