The links between John Harris and James Larra

The ADB ¹ entry for John Harris does help to resolve the question as to which of three John Harris’ in the colony in the 1790s was the father of James Larra’s two nieces. However, it does little to explain how Larra’s name came to be associated with a watercourse, a lake, and the Parish of Larras Lake. Bergman’s contribution also confirms that the John Harris who fathered Elizabeth and Hannah (and a son – also named John Harris) was a convict-for-life and was amongst the first groups of convicts sent to Norfolk Island, leaving Port Jackson a few months before Larra arrived in the penal colony at Port Jackson. Only after John Harris returns from Norfolk Island in 1796 does he become clearly associated with James Larra.

John Harris – two-times-convict-for-life – was granted a conditional pardon on 12th December 1794 while he was still on Norfolk Island. The pardon was granted by Lieutenant-Governor Grose after a concerted effort on Harris’ behalf by Philip Gidley King. Grose subsequently returned to England and was replaced by William Paterson until John Hunter arrived to assume the Governor’s role. Then on 13^th September, 1796, Hunter granted convict-for-life John Harris an absolute pardon, once again at the instigation of Philip Gidley King and (according to Bergman) ‘in consideration of good services as Principal of the Nightwatch at Norfolk Island..‘ At this time King was still Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island, but Harris had returned to Port Jackson earlier that year. The problem here is that Harris was a convict-for-life and according the rewards for service in the Norfolk Island night watch ( per Philip Gidley King’s own letterbook, ) a convict-for-life would need to serve to ten years as a member of the Night Watch to earn even a conditional pardon… Harris had served, at the very most, three years…and King had pressed his superior at Port Jackson to grant him an Absolute pardon.

Harris was a member of the Night Watch on Norfolk Island from the year it was established in 1793 until he left in January or February 1796. King’s letterbook confirms that Harris was one of a group whose ‘beat’ was Sydney Vale, Arthur Vale and Granville Valley. Some accounts of this Norfolk Island episode have suggested Harris was in charge at this location, but he was the last-mentioned of four involved in maintaining a watch at Sydney Vale etc., and there nothing in the Lieutenant-Governor’s letter book [25th August 1793] to suggest Harris was ‘in charge’ anywhere. Indeed, Philip Gidley King’s letter book states that Charles Grimes was Head Constable [in overall charge] of the Norfolk Island watch and that John Jamieson was Superintendent. It seems odd, then, that Harris should be granted an absolute pardon ‘in consideration of good services as Principal of the Nightwatch at Norfolk Island..‘ but let’s leave that as the very least of the concerns about John Harris.

The circumstances of John Harris’ return to Port Jackson after seven years on Norfolk Island are obscure, but the Victualling Book from Norfolk Island confirms he did return on the Reliance, leaving the island on 29^th January 1796 – no more than eight years after his second conviction and sentencing to transportation-for-life… The Victualling Book also confirms that Harris’ children, John Green, born 20^th January 1790, and Elizabeth Green, born 24^th December 1794, left Norfolk Island on 19^th February 1796. The book is silent on the return of their mother Mary Green, but, as she is not shown as receiving rations on the island after 1795, it would appear that she too returned on the February 1796 voyage of the Reliance… Mary had been pregnant when she arrived on Norfolk Island 3^rd December 1789, and gave birth to her son, John, 48 days later.

At this point, things become even more complicated, but the implications are critical to this evaluation…

The above outline suggests Elizabeth Harris was born Elizabeth Green on Norfolk Island (b 1794) and that she left Norfolk Island with her brother John (b 1790) on 19 February 1796. However, the victualling book is silent in regard to their mother Mary Green.

It appears that this is because Mary ceased being victualled at the end of 1795 as her term of transportation had by that time been served. The victualling book record is for the convict Mary Green who was now a free woman. Without seeking confirmation from a record of victuals for a free woman Mary Green, it appear reasonable to accept that she too left Norfolk Island on 19 February 1796, on the same 1796 voyage of the Reliance as her children.

When she left the island Mary Green was, once more, pregnant. This child was Hannah Green, born in Sydney town in 1796 and 5 years old when James and Suzanna Larra became her guardian.

To return to Bergman’s account of John Harris, by 1799 Harris was in Parramatta – now as a licensed victueller, with James Larra one of his two sureties. Both he and Larra became involved in the barter with convicts of liquor in exchange for the convicts’ food rations, with their stock of liquor being supplied by members or former members of the Rum Corps. This cynical business had developed quickly after the departure of Governor Arthur Phillip when the role of Governor was assumed by the Rum Corps’ Commanding Officer, and the Corps and former officers of the Corps gained absolute control over the importation and distribution of alcohol and many other goods. (It has been suggested Harris and Larra obtained their licensed victueller’s stock from John Macarthur, a former officer of the Corps . Although quite possibly so, no citation was supplied to support the contention. (A little further research into this aspect of the story remains to be completed.)

As highlighted in the page on John Harris, Governor Hunter had very specifically prohibited the barter of rations for alcohol soon after his arrival in 1796. Additionally, Hunter had identified the existence of a system of graft that has a critical bearing on the tale of John Harris, but before he could act upon the situation Hunter was succeeded by Philip Gidley King – the somewhat idealistic former Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island who had pushed so hard for Harris’ absolute pardon.

On 21 August 1801 King wrote to Portland, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, in regard to the systemic graft identified by Hunter and, shortly before, had published a notice locally (transcribed below) that spelled the situation out to all involved…

King to Portland) [Enclosure No. 9.]
NOTICE RESPECTING FRAUD IN CONVICTS’ TIMES.
4th August, 1801.
IT having been this day discovered that, through the folly of several prisoners and the knavery of the Governor’s clerks, that the former have paid considerable sums of money, watches, &c, to the latter for the purpose of altering their terms of transportation from life to shorter rates (most of which have expired),some of whom, under the idea that this traffic was compleated, on finding themselves disappointed by the evidence of the original indents, kept in the Governor’s own possession, have made a confession, which has led to the discovery of several prisoners who have thus been drawn into an expence they never can recover. Whilst proper measures are taken for the punishment of this swindling act of the clerks, the Governor directs all persons who have had any transactions of this kind, either now or in Governor Hunter’s time, to give an immediate account thereof to the Governor’s secretary. If this notice is disregarded, the strictest scrutiny will be made into the indents, and the offenders will receive such a punishment as it is hoped will prevent any future attempts of that kind. [Historical Records of Australia Vol III p144]

Adding to the picture, one of Philip Gidley King’s first acts upon becoming Governor of the Colony overall was to resurrect and enforce Hunter’s 1796 order that forbade the barter of convicts’ food ration for liquor (transcribed in the page that introduced John Harris) – transactions that are said to have been the basis of a considerable proportion of both Harris’ and Larra’s businesses as licensed victuallers.

So, when King reported the manipulation of convict records regarding period of transportation and completed his detailed review of the indents, it would have become obvious that Harris – convict-for-life – had paid to have the record of his sentence altered. Harris had served about three years in the Norfolk Island Night Watch before pressuring King for, and receiving, an absolute pardon – the reward held out only to watchmen transported for seven years.

However, an absolute pardon, once granted in the name of the Monarch, could not be withdrawn without considerable embarrassment. This left King with no easy remedy, but it would be reasonable to suspect he would retaliate when the chance arose.

King now took steps to enforce Hunter’s order forbidding the barter of convicts’ rations, and in addition issued an order that required settlers to be supplied (their liquor) only out of government stores. Both acts were designed to break the grip on the Colony held by the NSW (Rum) Corps, and former members of the Corps through their monopoly on liquor. This, of course, also had a major impact upon the business operations of John Harris and James Larra.

Despite this ominous set of circumstances, on 13^th November, 1800 Harris supplied liquor in exchange for a convict’s rations. Whether set-up or not, he was now an obvious target of the Governor’s displeasure – a two-times-convict-for-life who had corruptly paid to have the record of his transportation changed from life to seven years, had pestered King into ensuring he was granted an absolute pardon on the basis of 3 years service in the Norfolk Island Night Watch, when officially, as a convict-for-life he was entitled only to a conditional emancipation after ten years service, – and now a licensed victueller who had deliberately ignored or disobeyed one of Kings most significant edicts…

In reaction to the news that Harris had blatantly defied him, King largely destroyed Harris’ licensed premises, had his entire stock of wine and spirits destroyed and cancelled a Land Grant that had been made to him. Although King’s reaction is entirely within the bounds of the outcome Hunter had threatened toward the end of his term, the fury with which King acted towards Harris appears to have been far in excess of that he exhibited towards various others who aroused his displeasure. But then Harris really had pushed his luck…

Under the circumstances, Harris decided it was time he left town…

According to Bergman, Harris now “left his daughters in the care of his fellow-Jew and relation, James Larra and embarked with his son in January 1801 in the Spanish prize El Plumier, which Thomas Fysh Palmer one of the so-called Scottish Martyrs, had bought for his return to England. After an adventurous journey, during which they were shipwrecked at Fiji, and taken prisoners by the Spanish when seeking refuge on Guam, where Palmer died, they arrived in England about October 1803. Next month, backed by John Macarthur, who was in London facing charges of treason for his prominent part in the uprising against Governor Bligh, Harris sought relief from the Colonial Office, but his memorial apparently remained unanswered and the ultimate fate of Harris and his son is not known. ” ²

What Bergman does not say is that, if he did return to England, Harris would have been identified as a twice-returned transportee-for-life, sentenced to death a third time, but probably re-transported with a new life term. Under such circumstances, the fact he subsequently disappeared is not surprising… The probability of this outcome does not appear to have been spelled out as far as transportees-for-life were concerned… An absolute pardon meant that the recipient was free to leave the Colony and travel whenever he or she pleased, but it appears it may not have removed a transportee-for-life’s life-long banishment from England. They were never to return… In fairness to the earlier researchers, there has always been a question about John Harris’ past, his involvement with the Night Watch at Port Jackson and the reasons why he clashed with Philip Gidley King. One version, in the ADB entry already mentioned, is as follows:

“When King became governor he asked Harris to return to the police force, but he declined, not wanting to abandon a lucrative trade which afforded him and his family a better living than a government appointment.. Soon afterwards King declared that he had acted against government regulations by buying rations from convicts with liquor. He was taken into custody by Samuel Marsden and while he was detained the governor had one wall of his house torn down, his liquor casks staved open and his spirit license withdrawn; later he deprived him of his land grant. Harris was never formally tried… “

Although there are many problems with the various summaries of John Harris’ life, those not already addressed do not materially affect the story of Larras Lake. For this reason it is time to move on and leave the rest for another day…

The records discussed in these pages do little to demonstrate a family relationship between John Harris and James Larra. In fact the only confirmed relationship is that both were Jewish. No contemporary government record actually confirms Harris was a founding member of the Port Jackson night watch, even though Collins does state that Harris put the idea to him. His name is struck through on the local list of watchmen and wholly omitted from the list of watchmen sent to London. However, there is one mention of a his being involved in the apprehension of two convicts in the course of the operations of the night watch. Nothing has been found that confirms Larra succeeded Harris as head of the watch at Port Jackson, but the justification for Larra’s 1898 land grant certainly supports the contention that Larra was a member of the watch reasonably soon after his arrival in the Colony, but several months after Harris had removed to Norfolk Island. Harris was quite probably involved in the fraudulent alteration of convict records, and then probably applied pressure that exposed his involvement with a drastic outcome. Harris was the father of the two girls always referred to as Larra’s nieces, but the only support for the contention that he was actually related to Larra is a statement made by Hannah Harris, which was probably what she had been led to believe since she was five years old. Mary Green was clearly the mother of the girls whether her name was Mary or Mathilda, or even Maria. The last-mentioned is a variation that needs a little more investigation, because it may be a critical clue to the naming of Larras Lake…

However, the possibility that Harris was Larra’s brother ³ – even though their surnames raise a question – or that Mary Green was Larra’s sister – may explain why Larra was prepared to act as a surety for Harris in 1799 when the latter applied for a license to sell spirituous liquors, and why, when Harris decided it was time to leave town, Larra was prepared to take two girls, then aged 7 and 5 years, into the home he shared with his first wife, Suzanna. It also explains the extent to which he made plans for their future – a shared land grant of 300 acres on 13th July 1809, held in trust for them, and, eventually a very favourable match for Elizabeth Harris. That Hannah Harris was a bit more adventurous and, perhaps, more strong-willed than her sister, explains her story. Even so, because James Larra had cared, Hannah had a half-share in 300 acres of prime agricultural land and represented quite a good catch for Captain Ritchie. If Mary Green was Larra’s sister rather than John Harris being his brother, Larra’s nature appears to have been such that he would still provided for the girls in the way that the record demonstrates he did.

An unresolved question is what happened to Mary Green. When she returned to Port Jackson from Norfolk Island in 1796 she was a free woman, having then served her sentence of transportation for seven years but if she stayed on in the Colony or not remains unclear. Levi and Bergman indicate there is a tombstone for an Elizabeth Harris in the same enclosure as a memorial for Elizabeth Underwood in the churchyard of St. John’s in Ashfield. The inscription on the tombstone states that she died on 24th October 1850 aged 78, and the Sydney Morning Herald of 26th October 1850 reported the “the deceased resided as housekeeper in the family of Mrs. Underwood for upwards of 20 years.” Levi and Bergman put forward the reasonable suggestion that “Elizabeth Harris” was in fact Mary Green, mother of John Harris’ three children. What they did not realise is that, as Maria Green, she is probably the critical link to the naming of Larras Lake…⁴

GOTO William Lee and ‘Larra’s Lake’ >

1
Also written b y G.F.J.Bergman (ibid)
2
Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for John Harris submitted by Bergman
3
Perhaps the relationship was that they were ‘brother’ Jews ?
4
For an explanation of this see the page entitled “William Lee and Larra’s Lake”