Harris, James, 1st Earl of Malmesbury (1746 -1820)

James Harris was the eldest son and heir of James Harris, of the Close, Salisbury, and Elizabeth, daughter and eventual heir of John Clarke, of Sandford in Somerset. He was educated at Salisbury Grammar School, Winchester College, and Merton College, Oxford, where he matriculated as a Gentleman Commoner 13 June 1763, but took no degree, and at the University of Leiden. Member of Parliament for Christchurch 1770 1774, he served as Secretary to the Embassy at Madrid 1768, Chargé d'Affaires 1769, and Minister 1771 1772, Envoy to Berlin 1772 17 76, Ambassador to St Petersburg 1776 1783, was made a Knight of the Bath 24 February 1779, Privy Councillor 1784, Envoy 1784 1788 and Ambassador 1788 1789 to the Hague, Envoy to Berlin 1793, to Brunswick 1794, and to Paris in 1796 and 1797. He married, 28 July 1777, Harriet Maria, younger daughter of Sir Charles Amyand Baronet. He was created Baron Malmesbury of Malmesbury in Wiltshire 19 September 1788 and Viscount Fitzharris and Earl of Malmesbury, 29 December 1800. Books from his library were sold in London in 1929.