Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harris, George (1746-1829)
HARRIS, GEORGE, first Lord Harris of Seringapatam and Mysore (1746–1829), general, one of several children of the Rev. George Harris, B.A. Cambridge, curate of Brasted, Kent, by his wife Sarah, daughter of George Twentyman of Braintree, Cumberland, was born 18 March 1746. He was sent to Westminster School, and on 1 Jan. 1759 was entered as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, through the good offices of Lord George Sackville. The elder Harris is said to have earned the lasting gratitude of Sackville by protecting him against a notorious pugilistic miller at Cambridge when they were schoolfellows. Young Harris lost his father in 1759, and in 1760 passed out of the academy as a lieutenant-fireworker in the royal artillery, with which he served until 1762, when he was appointed to an ensigncy in the 5th foot. Soon after, at imminent risk, he saved a brother officer from drowning in the river Ouse. He became lieutenant in the regiment in 1765, and was appointed adjutant in 1767. The 5th was then in Ireland, and popularly known as the ‘Shiners,’ from its smart appearance and attention to parade details. In 1768 Harris got leave to travel on the continent, ‘to improve himself in French, riding, and fencing.’ In 1771 he purchased his company, and in 1774 went with the regiment to America. As captain of the grenadier company (Lord Rawdon, afterwards Earl of Moira and Marquis of Hastings, being his subaltern) he served under Lord Percy at Lexington and at the battle of Bunkers Hill, 17 June 1775, where the 5th suffered very heavy loss, and Harris received a wound in the head, which necessitated trepanning. He rejoined his corps in July 1776, and from that time up to November 1778 was present in every engagement, Germantown excepted. At Iron Hill he was shot through the leg. As major he accompanied the force sent from New York to the West Indies under General James Grant of Ballindalloch, and commanded a provisional battalion of grenadiers at the capture of St. Lucia, December 1778. He was second in command under Major-general Medows at La Vigie during the very gallant defence of that post when the Comte de Grasse attempted to relieve the island. On this occasion the 5th won the distinction of wearing the tall white feather in their fusilier caps, which is still retained. He embarked with his regiment as marines in 1779, and was present in the naval engagement off Grenada. Returning home later in the year in a neutral vessel, he was taken by a French privateer and carried to St. Malo, but released on parole by the Comte d'Ossun, and permitted to proceed to Dover. He married, and in 1780 became lieutenant-colonel of the 5th foot. He was shipwrecked when on his way to Ireland with his wife. He commanded the regiment some years in Ireland, where it enjoyed high repute and popularity (Cannon, Hist. Rec. 5th Fusiliers, pp. 52–4).
When the 5th was ordered again to America, Harris prepared to sell out and settle in Canada, but was dissuaded by General Medows, who had just been appointed to the Bombay command, and offered to take Harris on his staff. Medows generously arranged an insurance on Harris's life for 4,000l. before leaving, for the benefit of his wife and family. Harris effected an exchange to the 76th foot, one of the four new regiments then just raised for service in India, and as aide-de-camp and secretary served with Medows during his tenure of command at Bombay, and afterwards at Madras. He served in the campaigns of 1790–1 against Tippoo Sahib; commanded the second line in the battle of 15 May 1791, and was engaged in Lord Cornwallis's attack on Tippoo's camp and the island of Seringapatam, 6 Feb. 1792, which ended that war (Ross, Cornwallis Corresp. vol. ii.; Mill, Hist. of India, vol. v.) Harris came home with Medows soon after. His management as private secretary of that officer's concerns was so successful that Medows returned with a balance of 40,000l. saved out of his emoluments. Harris returned to India with his family in 1794, and was appointed commandant of Fort William. The same year he became a major-general. In 1796 he was appointed to the staff at Fort St. George, with a seat in council, and local rank of lieutenant-general. As senior military officer present he commanded the troops in the Madras presidency from 1796 to 1800, and administered the civil government as well from October 1797 to February 1798.
In December 1798 Harris was selected by Lord Wellesley to fill the command of fifty thousand men collecting to take the field in anticipation of the hostile designs of Tippoo Sahib. The operations ended with the storm of Seringapatam and the death of Tippoo in the breach on 4 May 1799, and the annexation of the Mysore country. Harris received the thanks of the government of India in council and of both houses of parliament, and was offered an Irish title, which he declined. He was appointed colonel of the 73rd highlanders in February 1800, in which year he returned home, became a lieutenant-general in 1801, and general in 1812. On 11 Aug. 1815 he was raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom under the title of Baron Harris of Seringapatam and Mysore, and of Belmont, Kent. He was made a G.C.B. in 1820, and governor of 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.]