HARRIS, John Dove (1809-1878), of Ratcliffe Hall , Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, nr. Loughborough, Leicestershire; 130 Cambridge Street, Warwick Square, London

A Liberal hosier, Harris offered support for political reforms during his two stints in Parliament, but was opposed to Sunday openings of the British Museum, believing it would undermine the sanctity of the Sabbath, a stance which local radical opponents thought owed more to electoral considerations than principle.1Dod’s parliamentary companion 1857: new Parliament (1857), 210; Derby Mercury, 25 Mar. 1857, 1 Apr. 1857. Harris was elected a councillor in 1839 and was appointed an alderman in 1850, becoming mayor in the same year and again in 1856.2H. Hartopp, Roll of the mayors and lord mayors of Leicester, 1209 to 1935 ([1936]), 201; G. Searson, The Leicester municipal, borough, and county poll book (1883), 22, 24-25, 27, 118-19. ‘Brought up in commercial and manufacturing pursuits’, in 1854 he succeeded his father, the self-made Leicester hosier Richard Harris, MP for Leicester, 1848-52, as head of the family firm.3The Times, 22 Nov. 1878.

By this time, the dominant Leicester Reformers had split into warring camps and at the 1857 general election Harris offered on behalf of the moderate faction. Like both radical candidates, Harris endorsed Palmerston’s foreign policy, free trade and political reform. He differentiated himself through his opposition to Sunday opening of the British Museum and National Gallery, with which one of the incumbents, Sir Joshua Walmsley was strongly associated, gaining Harris the support of local religious leaders.4Derby Mercury, 25 Mar. 1857, 1 Apr. 1857; The Times, 18 Mar. 1857. He topped the poll, finishing just ahead of the radical hosier John Biggs, whilst Walmsley was relegated to third.

Soon after his election, Harris explained his views on the Sunday question to the House. Whilst he supported evening openings for the British Museum on weekdays, he thought that Sunday admissions would set a precedent for ‘all other institutions of a similar character’. Most important in his considerations, however, was the ‘deep national feeling for the religious observance of that day’.5Hansard, 2 July 1857, vol. 146, c. 812. On other issues, Harris’s voting record was little different from that of his radical colleague, dividing in favour of triennial parliaments, the ballot, and the 1858 county franchise bill.6House of Commons Division Lists, 1857 session 2, 10, 30 June 1857; ibid., 1857-58 session, 20 Apr. 1858, 8, 10 June 1858. Although he was classed as a moderate in Leicester, a town that was famous for its radicalism, in a parliamentary setting he should perhaps be seen as an advanced Liberal. A Baptist, he supported the abolition of church rates.7Ibid., 1857-58 session, 17 Feb. 1858, 8 June 1858; ibid., 1859 session 1, 15 Mar. 1859.

At the 1859 general election Harris finished in last place behind two radicals and a Conservative.8VCH Leics., iv. 221. He suffered another defeat at a by-election for the same constituency, 7 Feb. 1861, when he finished above the radical candidate, but he was easily beaten by the Conservative.9The Times, 6 Feb. 1861. The result, however, persuaded Leicester’s Liberals to bury their differences and reunite the party, and Harris and the sitting radical came forward on a united platform in 1865 and were both returned, with the former topping the poll.10Derby Mercury, 19 July 1865; VCH Leics., iv. 222-24. Back in Parliament, Harris resumed his support for the ballot and the abolition of church rates.11House of Commons Division Lists, 1866 session, 7 Mar. 1866, 17 July 1866. He divided in favour of the Liberal government’s 1866 reform bill and cast votes for the enfranchising clauses of the representation of the people bill the following year.12Ibid., 27 Apr. 1866; ibid., 1867-68 session, 12 Apr. 1867, 2, 13, 20, 31 May 1867, 3, 17 June 1867, 1 July 1867. He was re-elected in second place in 1868, comfortably ahead of the Conservative challenger, but retired at the 1874 general election.13McCalmont’s parliamentary poll book, ed. J. Vincent and M. Stenton (1972, 8th edn.), 169. A man ‘who was apt to look on the dark side of things’, Harris died in 1878, succeeded by his only child, Emma Dove Octaviana (d. 1904), who was married to the eldest son of the wool manufacturer Titus Salt, MP for Bradford, 1859-61.14M. Kirkby, Leaflets from my life: a narrative autobiography (1888, 2nd edn.), 68; Burke’s peerage and baronetage (1949), 1777. The partnership of Richard Harris & Sons was dissolved in 1888.15S. Chapman, Hosiery and knitwear: four centuries of small-scale industry in Britain, c.1589-2000 (2002), 147.