Author: Harris, Henrietta
Biography:
HARRIS, Henrietta, formerly WEST (fl 1796-1805)
In the Poems, on Various Subjects that she published by subscription in Worcester, Worcestershire, in 1805, Harris reveals that she had been a resident of Worcester for some years and had buried two infant children; also that some of her verses had appeared previously in the Worcester Journal. Reviews commend the “liberal” subscription list, headed by the Countess of Essex, and approve of the poetry in a lukewarm way, as promoting virtue and being in general tasteful. No birth or death record has as yet been found for her but there is one for the marriage of Henrietta West and William Harris at Leominster, Herefordshire, on 28 Jan. 1796, in which it is noted that the groom was “of Worcester.” Their twin daughters Henrietta and Teveria were born at Worcester on 13 Oct. 1796 and buried on 17 Oct.; there do not appear to have been further births. One William Harris died at Worcester in 1806 but the name is common enough that there are several later candidates; neither husband or wife appears in the 1841 census. If she remarried, it was not in Worcestershire. (ancestry.com 22 Dec. 2024; findmypast.com 22 Dec. 2024; British Critic 28 [1806], 79-80; GM 76 [1806], 353) HJ