Person:John Harry (3)

John Edwin Harry was born in 1863 in Plymouth, Devon. He was the sixth of eight 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 were married for sixteen years, but the marriage appears to have been childless. Jessie died in 1906.

Fairly soon after Jessie's death, John had two daughters with a Mary Emma Bond. They presented themselves as though married on the girls' baptisms, although they do not appear to have actually remarried. The 1911 census described John as a widower and Mary Emma as a spinster and the family's housekeeper.

John died in 1935, aged 71.

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

   b. John Edwin HARRY, September Quarter 1863, Plymouth Registration District, Vol. 5b, page 256

2. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 10 General Register Office: 1871 Census Schedules, Class RG10; Piece 2118; Folio 109; Page 5, 2 Apr 1871, Primary quality.

   Address	25 Claremont Street, Plymouth (St Andrew), Devon
   Name	Relation to head	Marital status	Sex	Age	Implied birthdate	Occupation	Birthplace
   William R. Harry	head	married	male	44	1826/7	Shipwright (out of employ)	Saltash, Cornwall
   Jane Harry	wife	married	female	37	1823/4		Parish of Beer Ferris, Devon
   Mary A. Harry	daughter	unmarried	female	17	1853/4	Domestic Servt.	Portsmouth, Hampshire
   Louisa K. Harry	daughter		female	13	1857/8	Domestic Servt.	Dartmouth, Devon
   William R. Harry	son		male	11	1859/60	Scholar	Plymouth, Devon
   John E. Harry	son		male	7	1863/4	Scholar	Plymouth, Devon
   Ellen S. Harry	daughter		female	4	1864/5	Scholar	Plymouth, Devon
   Elisabeth M. Harry	daughter		female	1	1869/70		Plymouth, Devon

3. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 11 General Register Office: 1881 Census Schedules, RG11/2197/24/42, 3 Apr 1881, Primary quality.

   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

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

   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

5. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 12 General Register Office: 1891 Census Schedules, RG12/1732/101/11, 5 Apr 1891, Primary quality.

   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

6. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 13 General Register Office: 1901 Census Schedules, RG13/2012/39/69, 31 Mar 1901, Primary quality.

   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

7. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 14 General Register Office: 1911 Census Schedules, Devon, Plymouth, SW, District 13, Schedule 195, 2 Apr 1911, Primary quality.

   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

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

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

9. ↑ ^9.0 9.1 Baptisms register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of Christ Church. (Plymouth: Plymouth and West Devon Record Office), Primary quality.

   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.

10. ↑ Plymouth became a city in 1928.