Harris, John

(1820-1884)

   Born to a miner at Six Chimneys Cottage, Bolennowe Hill, Camborne, Cornwall, he started working underground in Dolcoath mine with his father at the age of twelve. Mainly self-educated, he was encouraged by the rector of Camborne to write poetry. An industrious man, he built his own house and in 1845 he married. He was scripture reader in Falmouth and a Methodist local preacher. His Lays from the Mine, the Moor, and the Mountain was published in 1853, and from then on he published a volume nearly every year. In 1864 he won first prize for the Shakespeare tercentenary poem. He died at Falmouth and was buried at Treslothan. His My Autobiography was published in 1882. Some of his other publications: The Land's End and Other Poems, 1859. The Mountain Prophet, 1860. Wayside Pictures, 1874. Walks with the Wild Flowers, 1875. Some of his poems: "Elihu Burritt in Cornwall," "Out of Cornwall," "Sonnets to the Months," "The Avon," "The Cannon in the Lane," "The Fall of Slavery," "The Monument of Chatterton," "The Winding Wye."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Shakespeare's Shrine By John Harris. Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1866. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Life of a Miner (http://www.lynherparishes.co.uk/LYjohnharris.htm). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.