Biography

John Hyde Harris 1826 – 26 July 1886

John Hyde Harris was born in Oxfordshire and trained as a lawyer before sailing to Otago in 1850, becoming Dunedin’s second lawyer. His ambition was to create a fortune worthy of his Clarendon ancestors, an old aristocratic family.

Within a year Harris married Anne Cargill, daughter of William Cargill, who became the first Superintendent of Otago in 1853. Family life must have been challenging as Harris went into politics and was often at odds with his father-in-law, siding with his brother-in-law William Cutten. Harris was a member of the “little enemy”, prominent Englishmen who were the thorns in the side of the Scottish founders of Dunedin. Harris became the Superintendent of Otago after defeating John Richardson from 1863 to 1865 and he was president of the successful 1865 Dunedin Exhibition. He gained a prominent position in national politics when he became the Solicitor-General in Stafford’s government (1867-68). Harris had acquired high social standing in Dunedin, worthy of his Clarendon ancestors.

Harris also speculated on land, on the Taieri and in North Dunedin. Tragedy struck, however, in the late 1860s when his investments failed and he lost £28,000; he declared himself insolvent. Forced to resign from politics and return to being a lawyer, he never recovered his losses. In the end he died in Dunedin in 1886 after a year of imprisonment for debt, with only a hundred pounds in the bank.