1. James, presently mentioned. 2. Thomas, born January 1st, 1711-12; a student at Wadbam College, Oxford, 1729, afterwards a Master in Chancery; and living, without issue, in 1779. He married Catharine, daughter of Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart. and sister of Sir Windham Knatchbull, Bart. She was buried at Mersham, in Kent, about 1736. 3. George Harris, born September 19th, 1714, Prebendary of Sarum, and Rector of Excliffe, co. Durham; died unmarried, August 23d, 1777, and was buried at Excliffe, 4. Catherine, born May 13th, 1705, married June 23d, 1730, Sir Windham Knatchbull Windham, Bart. of Mersham-Hatch, co. Kent, eldest son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart. (who assumed the surname and arms of Windham, in addition to that of Knatchbull, by act of parliament, 19 George II. pursuant to the will of his maternal uncle, Thomas, Lord Windham, Lord Chancellor of Ireland.) She died January 8th, 1743, and was buried at Mersham; and her husband survived her till July 23d, 1749, when he was buried at Mersham, aged forty-nine (leaving a son, the late Sir Windham Knatchbull, Bart. who died 1765, and a daughter, Joan, who died single, at Canterbury, a few years ago. 5. Gertrude Harris, born February 22d, 1707-8, died September 20th, 1708. JAMES Harris (eldest son), of the Close of Salisbury, Esq. was born in the Close of Salisbury, July 25th, 1709, and educated at the Grammar school there. In 1726, he was removed to Wadham college, in Oxford, but took no degree. He cultivated letters, however, most attentively, and also music, in the theory and practice of which he is said to have had few equals. He was member for Christchurch, Hants; which he represented in several successive parliaments. In 1763, he was appointed one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and soon after removed to the Board of Treasury. In 1774, he was made Secretary and " Of the Right Hon. Lady Elizabeth Harris, third daughter of Anthony, second Earl of Shaftesbury, and wife of the above James Harris, She died in 1743, aged 62 years" d Elder brothes to the late Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart. who died 1789, and was father of the present Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart, M. P. for Kent. * Gent. Mag Vol. LXXX. p. 1188. Comptroller to the Queen, which post he held to his death. He died December 21st, 1780, in his seventy-second year, after a long illness, which he bore with calmness and resignation. He is the author of some valuable works. 1. Three Treatises} concerning Art, Music, Painting, and Poetry; and Happiness; 1745," 8vo. 2. "Hermes; or, a Philosophical Enquiry concerning Universal Grammar, 1751," Svo. Of this piece, Bishop Lowth, in the Preface to the "English Grammar," expresses himself thus: "Those who would enter more deeply into this subject, will find it fully and accurately handled, with the greatest acuteness of investigation, perspicuity of explication, and elegance of method, in a treatise intituled, Hermes, by James Harris, Esq. the most beautiful and perfect example of analysis that has been exhibited since the days of Aristotle." 3. "Philosophical Arrangements." 4. " 4." Philosophical Enquiries, 1782," 2 vols, Svo. finished just before his death, and published since. present Earl has since published a collection of all his father's works, with his Life prefixed. The He married at Alderbury, near Salisbury, July 8th, 1745, Elizabeth, daughter of John Clarke, of Sandford, co. Somerset, Esq. M. P. and heir of her only brother, John Clarke, of Sandford, Esq. who died in 1781, and was buried in Salisbury cathedral; having had issue by him, 1. James, now Earl of Malmsbury. 2. John Thomas Harris, born June 1751; died December 9th, 1752. 3. Elizabeth, born 1747, died 1749. 4. Catherine Gertrude, born April 18th, 1750, married the Hon. Frederick Robinson, second son of Thomas, first Lord Grantham (who was born at Vienna, October 11th, 1746, and died December 28th, 1792.) 5. Louisa Margaret, born January 11th, 1753, living unmarried in 1797. JAMES, eldest son, FIRST and present EARL OF MALMSBURY, was born at Salisbury, April 9th, 1746, and having been early educated to diplomacy, was sent Minister to the Court of Madrid in 1768; Envoy Extraordinary to that of Berlin, June 3d, 1772; and elected M. P. for Christchurch, in Hants, the same year. Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister to the Court of St. Peters burgh, October 31st, 1776. e Biogr. Dict. Vol. VII. p. 347. He was nominated a Knight Companion of the Bath, by warrant dated February, 1779, and invested with the ensigns thereof, by her Imperial Majesty, at St. Petersburgh, March 21st following, and installed by proxy, May 22d, of the same year. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the States General of the United Provinces, July 3d, 1784, and sworn of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-council, September 3d following. He was again nominated Ambassador and Plenipotentiary to the same States, March 8th, 1788; and elevated to the Peerage, by the title of LORD MALMSBURY, BaTon of Malmsbury, co. Wilts, to him and to the heirs male of his body, by patent dated September 19th following. In 1796, his Lordship was sent Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of France, to negotiate a treaty of peace at Lisle, the failure of which is well known. His Lordship was elevated to an Earldom, by patent, December 29th, 1800, by the titles of VISCOUNT FITZHARRIS, of Hurn Court, in the county of Southampton; and EARL OF MALMSBURY, to him and the heirs male of his body. His Lordship married, by special licence, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, on July 28th, 1777, Harriot-Mary, daughter of Sir George Amyand, Bart. and sister to the present Sir George Cornwall, Bart. by whom he has had issue, 1. James-Edward, Viscount Fitzharris, born at St. Petersburgh, August 29th, and baptized August 23d, 1778; and married, June 17th, 1806, Miss Anne Dashwood, daughter of Francis Bateman Dashwood, Esq. by whom he has issue two sons. His Lordship was elected M. P. for Helstone, in 1802; and for Heytesbury, 1807, and was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty in May 1804, which he retained till February, 1806. His Lordship is governor of the Isle of Wight. 2. Thomas Alfred Harris, born in St. Margaret's, Westminster, March 24th, 1782, in Holy Orders. 3. George Harris, born at St. Margaret's, Westminster, February 8th, 1789, and died May following. 4. Catherine Harris, born at St.Petersburgh, May 21st, 1780, the Empress of Russia being her godmother. 5. Frances Harris, born in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, August 22d, 1784. Titles. James Harris, Earl and Baron of Malmsbury, and Vis'count Fitzharris. . Creations. Baron of Malmsbury, by patent dated September 19th, 1788; and Viscount Fitzharris, and Earl of Malmsbury, by. patent December 29th, 1800. Arms. Az. a chevron ermine between three hedgehogs, Or, en a chief the Prussian Eagle; which augmentation his Lordship received by his Majesty's permission on May 9th, 1789. Crest. A hedgehog, Or. Supporters. On the dexter side an eagle, on the sinister side a stag. Motto. UBIQUE PATRIAM REMINISCI. Chief Seat, His Lordship lately possessed the beautiful seat at Park-Place, near Henley (bought of Marshal Conway's heirs); which, however, he has lately sold again. THE present Earl derives his peerage from his maternal uncle, the late Alexander Wedderburn, Earl of Rosslyn, Lord High Chancellor of England. I therefore will first give an account of the family of Wedderburn. The surname of Wedderburn is local, and was first assumed by the lords or proprietors of the barony of Wedderburn, in the county of Berwick, when surnames became hereditary in Scotland, in the reign of King Malcolm the Third, who was contemporary with William the Conqueror. WALTER de Wedderburn was one of the great Barons of Scotland, who swore fealty to King Edward the first of England, for the lands he possessed in the county of Berwick, as in Prynne's Ragman's Roll, 2d Ann. 1296.a The direct male line of the Barons of Wedderburn having terminated in an heiress, in the reign of King Robert the Third, married to a younger son of the noble family of Home, that Barony has been in the possession of their descendants from that period till the present. Several collateral descendants of this ancient family were proprietors of lands in the county of Berwick; Willielmus de Wedderburn obtained a charter, under the great seal of King James the First, of the lands adjoining to the barony of Blackader, dated the 20th of January, 1425.b He is also mentioned in another royal charter of the same King, dated the 12th May, that year, together with Sir Thomas Hay of Yester, Sir Archibald Douglass of Cavers, Sheriff of Tweedale, and others s W. Prynne's Hist. of King John, Henry III. and Edward I. Vol. III. c Ibid. |