Wilts Obituary. 145 



first began the use of ice in the curing of bacon, patented the process in 

 1864, and the business increased enormously, and was carried on by him 

 until in 1885 he took his three sons, J. M., Tom, and Herbert G., Harris 

 into partnership and from that time gave up the management of the 

 vast business to them. In 1886 the firm of his brother, " Messrs. Charles 

 Harris & Co.," which had hitherto been carried on separately, was 

 amalgamated, and the united Harris bacon curing business became that 

 of " Charles and Thomas Harris & Co., Ltd." Long before this the staple 

 product of Calne had become known all over the world. 



He married, first, 1852, Susan, d. of Mr. Eeynolds, of Somerford, who 

 died in 1853 ; secondly, in 1855, Sophia, d. of John Mitchell of Sheldon, 

 by whom he had three sons and a daughter ; she died in 1864, and he 

 married for his third wife Elizabeth, d. of William Colebrooke, of Gt. 

 Tangley Manor Farm, Guildford, by whom he had three sons and four 

 daughters. His widow, five sons — J. M. Harris and H. G. Harris, of 

 Calne, Dr. Harris of Shaftesbury, A. C. Harris, of Leicester, and Joseph 

 Harris, of British Columbia, survive him, together with two daughters — 

 Sophia, and Dr. Bessie Gillison, now working for the London Missionary 

 Society in China. A third daughter, Mary, also a missionary in China, 

 died in 1895. 



He was Mayor of Calne in 1859, 67, 78, 85, and 89, and was a member 

 of the Town Council from 1854 to 1895, a member of the County Council 

 1888 — 1898, and J.P. for Wilts,1890. He took a very prominent place in 

 the life of Calne, and the town owes a great deal to his wise generosity. 

 The railway to Calne was largely due to the Harris family. He gave 

 £1000 to found a charity for gifts of coal to the poor and £1756 and the 

 site towards the New Town Hall. He presented the new roadway of 

 " Ivy Walk " to the town, and in 1891 he made a free gift of the new 

 Recreation Ground with pavilion, caretaker's lodge, and cycling track 

 complete. He was also a generous supporter of the Free Library, and 

 of many other local institutions. He was a strong Liberal and a' 

 staunch teetotaller, being President of the N. Wilts Liberal Association 

 and of the Western Temperance League. 



A sincerely religious man, the " Free Church " of Calne, founded largely 

 by the Harris family, when with others, they seceded from the Parish 

 Church in 1866 on the appointment of the late Canon Duncan as Vicar, 

 and the' Nonconformist cause in the neighbourhood will lose in him one 

 of their most generous supporters, and the town of Calne its best 

 known and perhaps most respected citizen. 



Long obit, notice, with sketch of the history of the firm and its business 

 and an " Appreciation," containing some account of his brothers as well 

 as himself, Devizes Gazette, Dec. 3rd and 10th ; another with portrait 

 Wiltshire Times, Dec. 5th and 12th, 1908. 



His funeral, at the Nonconformist Cemetery, which he had helped to 

 provide, was marked by the closing of all places of business in the town, 

 and by the very large numbers who were present at the service and the 

 cemetery. 



'i. XXXVI. — NO. CXI. L 



