British Politician. Sir Percy Alfred Harris, 1st Baronet was a Member of Parliament from Bethnal Green and onetime deputy leader of the Liberal Party. He served as a MP from 1916 to 1945 serving Harborough and later Bethnal Green South. He was a candidate in 1950 but lost the race. He was regarded as a radical Liberal with a strong social conscience, which grew from representing a working-class area of East End London, with a special concern for the housing conditions. During World War I, he held a position at the War Office and tried to ensure that the families of married men in the military were better able to cope with the absence of the main breadwinner. The second son of a Polish immigrant Wolf Hersch Harris and his wife, Elizabeth Nathan from New Zealand, he was well-educated at Harrow and Trinity Hall at Cambridge. He was called to the bar by Middle Temple in 1899. In 1901 he married Marguerite Frieda Bloxam, an artist and daughter of a surgeon, and they had two sons. In 1946, he published his autobiography, “Forty Years In and Out of Parliament,” but according to critics' reviews, never mentioned his Jewish ancestry; his father's father was Samuel Schlaglied. His unique grave marker is listed on the the National Heritage List for England. The marker has a relief carving by Edward Bainbridge Copnal, which depicts the resurrection of the dead. It was carved in the late 1920s and acquired by Harris for display in his garden at Morton House at Chiswick Mall before used as his grave marker.
British Politician. Sir Percy Alfred Harris, 1st Baronet was a Member of Parliament from Bethnal Green and onetime deputy leader of the Liberal Party. He served as a MP from 1916 to 1945 serving Harborough and later Bethnal Green South. He was a candidate in 1950 but lost the race. He was regarded as a radical Liberal with a strong social conscience, which grew from representing a working-class area of East End London, with a special concern for the housing conditions. During World War I, he held a position at the War Office and tried to ensure that the families of married men in the military were better able to cope with the absence of the main breadwinner. The second son of a Polish immigrant Wolf Hersch Harris and his wife, Elizabeth Nathan from New Zealand, he was well-educated at Harrow and Trinity Hall at Cambridge. He was called to the bar by Middle Temple in 1899. In 1901 he married Marguerite Frieda Bloxam, an artist and daughter of a surgeon, and they had two sons. In 1946, he published his autobiography, “Forty Years In and Out of Parliament,” but according to critics' reviews, never mentioned his Jewish ancestry; his father's father was Samuel Schlaglied. His unique grave marker is listed on the the National Heritage List for England. The marker has a relief carving by Edward Bainbridge Copnal, which depicts the resurrection of the dead. It was carved in the late 1920s and acquired by Harris for display in his garden at Morton House at Chiswick Mall before used as his grave marker.
Bio by: Linda Davis
Inscription
The Right Honourable Sir PERCY HARRIS Bart. / March 6th 1876 - July 28th 1952 / Deputy Lieutenant for the County of London / For many years a Member of Parliament and of the London County Council / Sometime Chief Whip and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party / He gave a lifetime of devoted service to the people of Bethnal Green / I had fainted if I had not believed in the goodness / of the Lord in the land of the living.
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Harris memorials in:
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
