Person:John Harry (3)

John Edwin Harry was born on 12th August 1863 in Plymouth, Devon. He was the seventh of ten children of a shipwright named William Richard Harry and his wife Jane Drake, a charwoman.

John grew up in Plymouth, where the family lived in Claremont Street and Claremont Place, to the north-west of the town centre.^[10] His father died in 1884 aged 57, when John was about 19 years old.

John appears to have spent some time as a painter's apprentice, but did not ultimately become a painter. In May 1889 he started work for the Post Office, initially as a junior town postman. The following year he married Jessie Eliza Ellis. They do not appear to have had any children. Both the 1891 and 1901 censuses find John and Jessie living at King Gardens in Plymouth, where they lived in two rooms. John's mother Jane died in 1894.

Jessie died in 1906, aged 43. She and John had been married for just under sixteen years.

Fairly soon after Jessie's death, John had two daughters with a Mary Emma Bond; Lily in April 1907 and Rosie in June 1908. They presented themselves as though married on the girls' baptisms, but in fact Mary was married to a John Curner. The 1911 census described John as a widower and Mary Emma as a spinster (using her maiden name) and the family's housekeeper.

John's elder daughter married in 1929 and John became a grandfather the following year, aged about 67. John's younger daughter married in 1934.

John and Mary eventually married each other late in 1934, presumably after Mary's first husband had died. John died shortly after their marriage, early in 1935, aged 71.

1. ↑ Births index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   b. John Edwin HARRY, September Quarter 1863, Plymouth Registration District, Volume 5b, page 256, mother's maiden name Drake

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Baptisms register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of Christ Church. (Plymouth: Plymouth and West Devon Record Office).

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the District of CHRIST CHURCH, PLYMOUTH, in the County of DEVON, in the year 1866
   When Born. 12 August 1863 No.1492
   When Baptized. 3 August 1866
   Child's Christian Name. John Edwin
   Parents' Name. Christian. William Richard & Jane
   Parents' Name. Surname. Harry
   Abode. 25 Claremont Place
   Quality, Trade, or Profession. Ship Wright
   By whom the Ceremony was performed. Theophilus Bennett

   Baptised same time as siblings William Richard and Sarah Ellen.

3. ↑ England. England and Wales. 1871 Census Schedules. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG10; Piece 2118; Folio 109; Page 5, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: 25 Claremont Street, Plymouth (St Andrew), Devon
   William R. Harry, head, married, male, 44 [1826/7], Shipwright (out of employ), b. Saltash, Cornwall
   Jane Harry, wife, married, female, 37 [1823/4], b. Parish of Beer Ferris, Devon
   Mary A. Harry, daughter, unmarried, female, 17 [1853/4], Domestic Serv[an]t, b. Portsmouth, Hampshire
   Louisa K. Harry, daughter, female, 13 [1857/8], Domestic Serv[an]t, b. Dartmouth, Devon
   William R. Harry, son, male, 11 [1859/60], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   John E. Harry, son, male, 7 [1863/4], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Ellen S. Harry, daughter, female, 4 [1864/5], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Elisabeth M. Harry, daughter, female, 1 [1869/70], b. Plymouth, Devon

4. ↑ England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG11; Piece 2197; Folio 24; Page 42, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: 3 Claremont Place, Plymouth, Devon
   William R. Harry, head, married, male, 54 [1826/7], Shipwright, b. Saltash, Cornwall
   Jane Harry, wife, married, female, 57 [1823/4], b. Beer Ferris, Devon
   William R. Harry, son, unmarried, male, 21 [1859/60], Plasterer, b. Plymouth, Devon
   John E. Harry, son, male, 17 [1863/4], Painter's App (House), b. Plymouth, Devon
   Ellen S. Harry, daughter, female, 14 [1866/7], Sch, b. Plymouth, Devon

5. ↑ British Postal Museum and Archive. Postal Service Appointment Books, 1737-1969. (London: Ancestry).

   1889
   Date: May
   Registered Number of Nomination Paper: 143514
   Surname: Harry
   Christian Name: John Edwin
   Situation to which Nominated: Junr Town Postman
   Place: Plymouth
   Number of Appointment Minute: 9114/89
   Number of Confirmation Minute: 15237/89
   Observations: Min 2378

6. ↑ England. 1891 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG12; Piece 1732; Folio 101; Page 11, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: 42 King Gardens, Plymouth (St Andrew), Devon
   2 rooms occupied
   John E. Harry, head, married, male, 27 [1863/4], Letter Carr[ie]r G.P.O., employed, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Jessie E. Harry, wife, married, female, 28 [1862/3], b. Plymouth, Devon

7. ↑ England. England. 1901 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG13; Piece 2012; Folio 39; Page 69, 31 Mar 1901.

   Address: 61 King Gardens, Plymouth, Devon
   5 or more rooms occupied
   John E. Harry, head, married, male, 37 [1863/4], Postman, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Jessie E. Harry, wife, married, female, 38 [1862/3], b. Plymouth, Devon

8. ↑ England. 1911 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom: The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), (formerly the UK General Register Office.))
   Class RG14; Piece 12989; Schedule 195, 2 Apr 1911.

   Address: 89 Cambridge Street, Plymouth, Devon
   2 rooms occupied
   John E. Harry, head, male, 47 [1863/4], widower, 2 children born alive, 2 still living, Town Postman, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Lily Harry, daughter, female, 4 [1906/7], b. Plymouth, Devon
   Rosie Harry, daughter, female, 2 [1908/9], b. Plymouth, Devon
   Mary Emma Bond, housekeeper, female, 34 [1876/7], single, b. Bere Alston, Devon

9. ↑ Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. John Edwin HARRY, March Quarter 1935, Plymouth Registration District, Volume 5b, page 379, aged 71 [1863/4]

10. ↑ Plymouth became a city in 1928.