Joshua Harrsch was born at
Fachsenfeld in
Aalen, in the
Ostwürttemberg region of
Baden-Württemberg. He was the youngest of 23 children of Hans Jörg Harrsch (1610-1675). Educated to the ministry, he served as a Lutheran pastor at
Landau in Palatinate. The
Palatinate in Germany had been ravaged by the
Thirty Years' War (1618 and 1648) and the subsequent
Nine Years' War (1688–97). Refugees from the war, occupation by the French army and the unpopular political and religious policies of
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine sought a new life elsewhere. Harrsch became the leader of a group of these
Palatines and traveled to
London to secure permission for them to settle under the British crown.
Queen Anne supported
Protestantism as did her Lutheran husband,
Prince George of Denmark. {{cite web ==References==