Christopher Harris (died 1625)


Sir Christopher Harris of Radford in the parish of Plymstock in Devon, was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in Devon in 1584. He was knighted in 1607. He should not be confused with his great-nephew and heir apparent Christopher Harris of Lanrest in the parish of Liskeard in Cornwall, a Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall.
He was a close friend of Admiral Sir Frances Drake, who on one occasion lodged part of his captured treasure at Radford. In partnership with John Hele of Wembury in Devon, serjeant-at-law and MP, Harris acquired the estate of Buckland Abbey in Devon as a seat for Drake. He owned The Armada Service, a set of 31 silver dishes now in the British Museum. His contemporary the Cornwall historian Richard Carew wrote that he: "admitteth no partner in the sweetly tempered mixture of bounty and thrift, gravity and pleasantness, kindness and stoutness, which grace all his actions".

Origins

He was the son and heir of William Harris of Radford, a Member of Parliament for Newport-juxta-Launceston in Cornwall in 1529, by his wife Catherine Trecarrel, a daughter and co-heiress of Henry Trecarrell of Trecarrell in Cornwall.

Marriages and children

He married twice as follows, but left no surviving children:
Firstly to Barbara Arscott, a daughter of John Arscott of Dunsland in the parish of Bradford in Devon. His son by Barbara, namely John Harris, died young and pre-deceased his father, thus Radford passed to his nearest surviving male relative, namely his great-nephew John Harris of Lanrest in Cornwall, MP.
Secondly he married his cousin Bridget Grenville, a daughter of Richard Grenville, lord of the manors of Bideford in Devon and of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton, Cornwall.

Succession

As he died without surviving children, his heirs became the descendants of his only sister Jane Harris, who in 1562/3 at Menheniot in Cornwall married her cousin John Harris of Lanrest in Cornwall. Her eldest son was John Harris of Lanrest, Recorder of the Borough of West Looe in Cornwall and MP for West Looe in Cornwall in 1614. However, as he predeceased his uncle by two years, he did not inherit, nor did his eldest son Christopher II Harris of Lanrest, a Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall, who also predeceased his great-uncle by two years, having survived his father by only a few months. It was thus Christopher II's younger brother John Harris of Lanrest, MP, who gained the inheritance.