This week I am dedicating seven daily posts to one of Swindon’s extraordinary, ordinary people.
John Harris was born in 1828 and baptised at St Mary the Virgin, Bathwick on November 9. He was the son of John, a Flour Factor and Coal Merchant, and his wife Ann, and grew up in the Sydney Wharf area of Bathwick.
He appears at Sydney Wharf on the 1841 census, aged 12, the eldest of four brothers. By the time of the 1851 census he is serving in the ‘Royal Regm Artillery.’ On census night he is at home in Sydney Wharf, Bathwick with his widowed mother, his uncle Robert Roe and his two younger brothers Edward and Frederick.
Five years later he would serve in the Crimean War. He recorded the events of that time and on his death in 1902 this diary still survived. As the obituary published in the Swindon Advertiser records, the newspaper was given access to the diary and published extracts.
Read first about the life and times of John Harris.
Death of a Crimean Veteran
Mr J. Harris, of Sanford Street, Swindon
Some Remarkable Coincidences
There has just passed away, at the residence of his son, 24, Sanford Street, Swindon, an old soldier who could lay claim to the honour of being a Crimean Veteran, and one whose life was full of interesting incidents to the younger generation whose knowledge of the Crimea is gained from the classroom. We refer to Mr John Harris, who died last (Tuesday) evening after only a week or so of illness, at the age of 74 years.
It was in the year 1855 that the deceased sailed for the Crimea with the K Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, a Regiment in which he held the rank of Sergeant, and which Regiment, by the way, was subsequently merged into the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Artillery, garrison duty out there being the principal work.
The deceased was a very observant man, and, moreover, of methodical nature, for, through the kindness of deceased’s son, we have in our possession a complete diary kept by the old soldier, containing entries referring to the passage out, the campaign, and the passage home. We hope to publish many extracts from this interesting compilation in our weekly issue on Friday next.
The deceased was wounded during the campaign, and here is a remarkable coincidence. The Brigade Surgeon was no other than Dr. G.M. Swinhoe, of Swindon, and one can well imagine the surprise of both when they met face to face in Swindon years after the Crimean war.
Strange to relate, the Chaplain attached to the same brigade was the deceased was the late Rev. Campbell, whose place in Swindon, was taken by Canon the Hon. M. Ponsonby, at St. Mark’s Church, Swindon. Dr. Swinhoe, we may add, attended the old soldier up to the time of his death.
The deceased, who was a native of Bath, obtained a berth in the GWR Works, at Swindon, which he held for many years. Locally his scholastic ability was taken advantage of by the Ancient Order of Shepherds, he holding the position of Secretary and Master for many years. When he relinquished the post in 1882 he was made the recipient of a handsome illuminated address.
Mr Harris was a God-fearing man, a fact evidenced if only by reference to the diary already referred to, the scriptural quotations, particularly after the recording of some calamity, being very apt.
Deceased was a churchwarden at St. Paul’s, Swindon for some time.
He leaves a widow, and one son and a daughter to mourn the loss of a loving husband and a devoted father.
Swindon Advertiser, Wednesday, July 30, 1902.
continues tomorrow …
Crimean War Diary Part One
Radnor Street Cemetery 