Sir William Harris (Harris)

The Harris Families of Creeksea and Shenfield

This page is one of many on the history of Belchamp Walter, Essex.

The relevance of the Harris family with respect to Belchamp Walter in the 17th Century is that there is Armada "Treasure" and artifacts in Belchamp Hall.

When I look more closely at the information that I find on geni.com I see that there is a potential confusion between two Sir William Harris'.

There are portraits of Sir Wiiliam and Lady Harris hanging in the current Belchamp hall. The paintings are attributed to Zucceherro. There doesn't seem to be much information on Zucceherro as an artist but there is a Federico Zuccari from that period (1596).

According to Alan Freer William Harris of Shenfield was knighted at the coronation of James I. I cannot find a reference to that fact, well, at least as far as Wikipedia.

Both William Harris', who were cousins, served in the Nine Year's War. This was the conclusion of the Tudor conquest of Ireland.

The Sir William Harris that is reported as being connected to Belchamp Walter is shown as being from Shenfield, Essex.
Shenfield is near Chemsford, Creeksea is also in Essex and not far from Belchamp Walter.
The Harris from Creeksea seems to be associated with the Virginia Company, therefore having a martime background.

encyclopediavirginia.org says:

" The Virginia Company of London was a joint-stock company chartered by King James I in 1606 to establish a colony in North America. "

The timing is somewhat in keeping. Lady Harris' father died in 1595, so she would be of marrying age in the early 1600's. However, the Shenfield research is also confirmed by the entries in Royal descents and pedigrees of founders' kin is more credible.

Margaretting, Essex, is a village 4 miles from Chelmsford. Ingatestone is the next railway station between Shenfield and Chelmsford and the village of Margaretting.

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Thomas Wright said:

" The two eldest sons died young; Oliver, on the death of his father, succeeded to the estate. He was representative for Essex in the two parliaments under Cromwell, in 1653 and 1656; and married Frances, daughter of Sir William Harris, knt. of Margaretting, by whom he had twenty-one children; of these, Anne was first married to John Laurence, and afterwards to John Eden, Esq. and Frances was married to John Darcy. "

Background to this page

Having seen this page found by those making an Internet search I have decided to add a bit more context.

This page was prompted by trying to understand why Frances ??? married a Harris.

Thomas Astley

Quote from our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com from a search for Thomas Astley:

Thomas Astley, Esq. was born circa 1530 at of Writtle, Essex, England.
He married Mary Denny, daughter of Sir Anthony Denny, Burgess of Ipswich, King's Remembrancer, Chief Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Joan Champernoun, circa 1560;
They had 2 sons (Sir Andrew; & Thomas) & 2 daughters (Elizabeth, wife of Sir Edward Darcy; & Frances, wife of Sir William Harris).
Thomas Astley, Esq. died in 1595.

The Nine Years War

The Nine Years' War, sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion,[1][2] took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It was fought between an Irish confederation—led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell—against English rule in Ireland, and was a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland. The war began in Ulster and northern Connacht, but eventually engulfed the entire island. The Irish alliance won numerous victories against the English forces in Ireland, such as the Battle of Clontibret (1595) and the Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), but the English won a pivotal victory against the alliance and their Spanish allies in the siege of Kinsale (1601–02). The war ended with the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Many of the defeated northern lords left Ireland to seek support for a new uprising in the Flight of the Earls (1607), never to return. This marked the end of Gaelic Ireland and led to the Plantation of Ulster.

The Tudor Conquest of Ireland

The Wikipedia page says:

The Tudor conquest (or reconquest) of Ireland took place during the 16th century under the Tudor dynasty, which ruled the Kingdom of England. The Anglo-Normans had conquered swathes of Ireland in the late 12th century, bringing it under English rule. In the 14th century, the effective area of English rule shrank markedly, and from then most of Ireland was held by native Gaelic chiefdoms. Following a failed rebellion by the Earl of Kildare in the 1530s, the English Crown set about restoring its authority. Henry VIII of England was made "King of Ireland" by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542. The conquest involved assimilating the Gaelic nobility by way of "surrender and regrant"; the confiscation and colonization ('plantation') of lands with settlers from Britain; imposing English law and language; banning Catholicism, dissolving the monasteries and making Anglican Protestantism the state religion.

The banning of Catholicism in the 16th Century by Henry VIII seems to have set the stage for the 17th Century actions of Charles I and the installation of Thomas Wentworth as the Lord Deputy of Ireland 1632 to 1640.

Back in England during this period the Wentworth family became the "owners" of the manor of Belchamp Walter in 1535. The statement from the Historic England listing for Belchamp Hall is confusing as it claims that the manor was officially "held" by the de Veres. The origin of this statement probably came from the accounts kept by the Raymond family who obviously have a connection to the events that led to the purchase of Belchamp Manor in 1611.

The "purchase" of Belchamp Manor by John Raymond was also repeated in the account written by Thomas Wright in 1831/36, however, he probably obtained information from the Raymond Family in the 19th Century.

The Harris Families of Creeksea and Shenfield

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