HARRIS, Vincent (d.1574), of Maldon, Essex.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

4th s. of William Harris of Southminster by his 1st w. Joan, da. of John Smith of Essex. m. (1) Elizabeth, da. of Thomas Hearon of Addiscombe, Surr., 1s. Thomas III 1da.; (2) Mary.

Offices Held

Capt. of musters, Essex bef. 1562, j.p. 1571.

Biography

Harris came of an old Essex family, and inherited from his father leases of lands in Mundon, where he was living in 1559. In 1563 he bought the site of the Carmelite friary in Maldon, and the cost of his building operations and lawsuits ran him into debt. His return to Parliament for Maldon was, however, as much the result of his association with Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, as of his local standing. The association appears in Harris’s will dated 21 Apr. and proved 28 Nov. 1574, where the Earl was requested, as patron and overseer, to extend his favour, furtherance and friendship to the support of Harris’s wife and children. Harris also enfeoffed his lands to Sussex and to his own two half-brothers, Edward and Arthur Harris, and John Sammes, to the use of his widow. She had been provided with a jointure, and the leases Harris had inherited were put into the charge of Arthur Harris, the executor, until the heir, Thomas, came of age.

Harris died 25 Apr. 1574.

Vis. Essex (Harl. Soc. xiii), 60; Wards 9/138, fl 419 seq.; APC, vii. 125; Essex RO, assize file, 35/13/5; Trans. Essex Arch. Soc. n.s. iii. 183; xv. 14; CPR, 1558-60, p. 243; PCC 44 Martyn.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.H.

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.