John Dove Harris was an English Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1857 and 1874.

Harris was the son of Richard Harris former MP for Leicester and his wife Fanny Dove, daughter of William Dove of Moulton, Northamptonshire. He was Mayor of Leicester in 1850 and in 1856. He was a Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 and J.P.

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for Leicestershire, and a J.P. for Leicester.

In 1857 Harris was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Leicester

Leicester (UK Parliament constituency)

Leicester was a parliamentary borough in Leicestershire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1918, when it was split into three single-member divisions.-History:...

 but lost the seat in 1859. He stood unsuccessfully in 1861 but was re-elected as MP for Leicester at the 1865 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1865

The 1865 United Kingdom general election saw the Liberals, led by Lord Palmerston, increase their large majority over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives to more than 80. The Whig Party changed its name to the Liberal Party between the previous election and this one.Palmerston died later in the same...

. He held the seat until 1874.

Harris died at the age of 69.

Harris married Emma Shirley, daughter of George Shirley of Tamworth in 1831.

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