John Harris (1820-1884)
A poetry competition in 1864 to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare was won not by someone who benefitted from a good education or from the elite of the world of poetry but by a Cornish miner who only received a rudimentary education.
John Harris was born in 1820 in Bolenowe, a small village near Camborne in Cornwall into a modest home with few books. He commenced school at the age of six or seven and finished just after his ninth birthday to start work – as a ploughboy for a few months and then in the tin-streams. On his tenth birthday he started work at the famous Dolcoath Mine, at first working on surface dressing the copper ore. When he was thirteen he went to work underground, an occupation he was to follow for the next twenty-four years, seeing the mine pass from copper to tin production. In 1857, he was appointed a scripture reader at Falmouth, releasing him from the grinding toil of hard-rock mining.
The move to Falmouth, where he combined the role of scripture reader with that of town missionary, opened up new avenues. Such as working closely with members of the influential Fox family, pioneering business people who mixed with leading thinkers and writers of the day and were prominent Quakers (John became a Quaker a few years before his death). During his time at Falmouth John left Cornwall for the first and only time in his life. He went to Stratford-upon-Avon after winning the Shakespeare Tercentenary Prize (competing against over 100 entries) in 1864.
Harris had a thirst for knowledge and was a voracious reader throughout his life. A number of local people, including The Rev George Bull, (the first curate of Treslothan) encouraged John and loaned him books. Writing poetry had been a part of his life since his first attempts at rhyme in school when he was just eight years old. Whatever he was doing, verses were forming in his mind and he scribbled these down whenever and wherever and on whatever he could. When no paper was available he would scratch his poems on slate, using a sharp pointed nail. In his mining days his miner’s ‘hard’ hat was sometimes used for this. When there was no ink available, he used blackberry juice. His dream of issuing his poems in book form was realised when Dr George Smith, the Camborne businessman and author, guided the young poet through the complex world of book publishing.
John Harris led a busy life and he fitted his writing between his work and family life (he married Jane Rule at Camborne Church in 1845 and they had four children) and other commitments. Yet, against all odds, he published fifteen books of poetry and an autobiography. And won the Shakespeare Tercentenary Prize.
John died in 1884 and lies at rest in the tranquility of Treslothan Churchyard.
“Whether dealing with scenes of childhood, the wild life of his Cornish countryside, or the grinding drama of life of the poor – Harris captures, with marvellous economy, the explosive charge contained in the sudden moment of revelation.”
Charles Causley, Poet
Times Literary Supplement, 1978
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“When scratching his verse on slates in the depths of a Cornish mine, Harris could never have dreamed that 150 years later on he would have an entry in the Oxford Companion to English Literature. A remarkable poet, he is the unique voice of 19th century Cornwall.”
D M Thomas, Poet and Novelist
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“Bolenowe lives; to Falmouth John did move
Where, mining over, life could well improve.
His village stayed his first, and lasting, love.”
Professor Charles Thomas, Author, Historian and Archaeologist
