John Harris (writer)
John Harris peered into a microscope in 1696. He became the first person on record to describe what scientists would later call a bdelloid rotifer, a creature invisible to the naked eye. That same year, the Royal Society elected him a Fellow. His findings on these tiny organisms, known then as animalcula, appeared in the Society's own journal, the Philosophical Transactions. Harris earned his living chiefly as an Anglican priest, holding posts in several English parishes across his career. He also spent much of his life compiling reference books, defending Christian belief in public lectures, and clashing with rival clergymen over politics. Born around 1666, he built a reputation as a scholar whose interests stretched from pond life under a lens to the geography of English counties. What carried a clergyman from a microscope's eyepiece to editing dictionaries and lecturing on mathematics? And how did the affairs of such a widely occupied man come apart by the end of his life?
Trinity College, Oxford, counted Harris among its scholars from 1684 to 1688. From there, the church sent him to the vicarage of Icklesham in Sussex, and afterward to the rectory of St Thomas in nearby Winchelsea.
Sir William Cowper's friendship later proved decisive for Harris's advancement within the church. Cowper's support secured him the office of private chaplain and a prebend in Rochester Cathedral in 1708. It also brought him the rectory of the united London parishes of St Mildred, Bread Street, and St Margaret Moses, along with other preferments.
These parish appointments anchored Harris in London just as an entirely different audience began seeking him out, this time in the city's coffee houses.
In 1698, Harris delivered the seventh series of the Boyle Lectures. He titled the lectures Atheistical Objections against the Being of God and His Attributes fairly considered and fully refuted.
Between 1702 and 1704, he delivered mathematical lectures at the Marine Coffee House in Birchin Lane, London, a series founded by Sir Charles Cox. He also advertised himself as a mathematical tutor at Amen Corner.
For a time, Harris also served as vice-president of the Royal Society.
In politics, Harris was a Whig, a stance that put him at odds with Rev. Charles Humphreys. Their quarrel grew bitter, and Humphreys went on to become chaplain to the High-Church Tory Henry Sacheverell.
Henry Sacheverell's High-Church politics still divided England, even as Harris's own reputation increasingly rested on the books that carried his name into print.
In 1704, Harris edited the Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Later commentators would describe it as the earliest of the English encyclopaedias.
The Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels reached readers only in 1744, published under Harris's name. By then, Harris himself had been dead for decades.
Harris also left behind Astronomical Dialogues Between a Gentleman and a Lady, published in London in 1719.
One more manuscript remained unfinished when Harris's life came to a close: his elaborate history of Kent.
D. Midwinter, a bookseller of St Paul's Churchyard in London, published the first volume of Harris's History of Kent in 1719.
He had planned the work in five parts, but only that first volume ever reached print.
Harris died on the 7th of September 1719, reportedly left in poverty by his own mismanagement of his affairs.
The remaining four parts of his Kent history were never written, leaving the county's story exactly where its author had to set it down.
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Common questions
When was John Harris born and when did he die?
John Harris was born around 1666, probably in Shropshire, and he died on the 7th of September 1719.
What is John Harris best known for writing?
John Harris is best known for editing the Lexicon Technicum, a 1704 dictionary of arts and sciences described as the earliest of its kind in English. He also compiled the Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, published under his name in 1744, and began an unfinished History of Kent.
What scientific discovery is John Harris credited with?
John Harris is credited with the first recorded description of what would later be called a bdelloid rotifer. His findings on these tiny organisms, then called animalcula, appeared in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions after his election as a Fellow in 1696.
Where did John Harris serve as a clergyman?
John Harris served as vicar of Icklesham in Sussex and rector of St Thomas, Winchelsea, and later held a prebend in Rochester Cathedral from 1708 and the rectory of the united London parishes of St Mildred, Bread Street, and St Margaret Moses.
Why did John Harris quarrel with Charles Humphreys?
John Harris, a Whig, quarreled bitterly with the Rev. Charles Humphreys over politics. Humphreys later became chaplain to the High-Church Tory Henry Sacheverell.
What happened to John Harris's History of Kent?
John Harris's History of Kent was left unfinished at his death, with only the first of a planned five parts ever published. D. Midwinter of St Paul's Churchyard, London, printed that volume in 1719, the same year Harris died in poverty from mismanaging his own affairs.