He was born at Cornworthy in Devon, eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Harris of Cornworthy Priory, serjeant-at-law, by his wife Elizabeth Pomeroy, daughter of Henry Pomeroy, who was a member of the ancient Anglo-Norman de Pomeroy family, feudal barons of Berry Pomeroy of Berry Pomeroy near Cornworthy. Sir Thomas Harris was called by his contemporary the Devon historian Tristram Risdon "a man much commended for his pregnant wit and learning". He sat in the House of Commons for many years, where he was noted both for his eloquence in debate and his diligence in committee work. Sir Thomas Harris's father was Edward Harris, son of Walter Harris of Monmouthshire. The elder Edward had purchased Cornworthy Priory at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Edward's elder sister Anne became on her first marriage to Sir Thomas Southwell Anne Lady Southwell: she was a noted poet.
Career
Edward entered Middle Temple in 1598 and was called to the bar in 1599. In 1608 he was sent to Ireland as Chief Justice of Munster. From the beginning of his career in Ireland he was a close associate and personal friend of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, who having emigrated from England in 1588, became the dominant political figure in Munster, and a major force in Irish politics.. As Lord Cork's nominee, Harris sat in the Irish House of Commons in the Irish Parliament of 1613–15 as one of the two members for Clonakilty, a borough which had been newly created at Lord Cork's instigation as part of his plan to build a political empire in the south of Ireland. In 1617 Harris received a special grant of land for his "extraordinary services to the Crown" and was knighted in 1619. In 1623 he was appointed a Justice of the Court of King's Bench in Ireland. He was Treasurer of the King's Inn in 1632.
Marriage and children
He married twice:
Firstly to Elizabeth Fowell, a daughter of Richard Fowell of Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, by whom he had seven surviving children, including:
*Sir Thomas Harris "the younger", his eldest son and heir, of Cornworthy, who died in 1642 or 1643.
*Mary Harris, who married William Greatrakes, and was the mother of the celebrated faith healer Valentine Greatrakes.
*Phillipa Harris, who married Robert Tynte, son of the prominent Anglo-Irish politician Sir Robert Tynte of Youghal, who was the ancestor of the Tynte baronets of Wicklow,
All his sons had died childless before 1645, at which time his female heirs were involved in bitter and protracted litigation over the inheritance.
Death and burial
He died in County Cork in 1636 and was buried in Kilcredan cemetery, near Ladysbridge, County Cork. It seems probable, from the inscription which was later added to the impressive monument to his father which still survives in St Peters Church, Cornworthy, that he was re-interred at Cornworthy. The inscription is as follows:
A monument to Edward Harris and his first wife Elizabeth Fowell still stands in the ruins of Kilcredan Church in Cork. His will, as so often in that era, was a source of great contention among his family and led to decades of litigation between his heirs. Philippa, the widow of his son Arthur, filed a lawsuit against his surviving daughters, Mary Greatrakes and Philippa Tynte, and his grandson John Lancaster, son of Elizabeth Lancaster, claiming that she had been deprived of her rights under Sir Edward's will.
