Harris was born in
Salisbury,
Wiltshire, and was educated at a
dissenting academy in
Taunton,
Somerset, under
Thomas Amory and
Henry Grove. He became a lay-preacher at age 18, and was ordained in 1741. He married Elizabeth Bovet of Honiton in Devon and became preacher at a
Presbyterian chapel in the nearby village of
Luppitt, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. In 1765, Harris's friend and patron, the wealthy philanthropist and fellow-
libertarian Thomas Hollis, helped secure for him the degree of Doctor in Divinity from the
University of Glasgow and wrote of him: "All his works have been well received, and those who differ from him in principle still value him in point of industry and faithfulness."
London bookseller
Andrew Millar may have been asked by Hollis to recommend Harris to the post. Millar's business and family connections linked Hollis, Harris, and Principal
William Leechman (whose sermons were sold by Millar), while another of Millar's associates recalled that Hollis's recommendation to Leechman had been made "by the means of a friend". Harris became ill and died, aged 49, before he was able to write a biography of the last of the Stuart kings,
James II of England. He is buried in St Michael's Churchyard at
Honiton and his will is preserved in
The National Archives in London. ==Works==