Sir Richard Harrison was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 variously between 1621 and 1640. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Harrison was the son of Richard Harrison of Hurst

Hurst, Berkshire

Hurst is a village in the civil parish of St Nicholas Hurst in the English county of Berkshire.-Geography:The parish of St Nicholas Hurst is situated at , north of Wokingham and south of Twyford in the county of Berkshire...

 in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

 and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Anton of Stratfield Saye

Stratfield Saye

Stratfield Saye is a village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire.The parish includes the hamlets of West End Green, Fair Oak Green and Fair Cross.The name means 'Street-Field of the Saye family'...

 in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, the Clerk of the Court of Wards and Liveries. His father died in 1587 and his mother remarried to Robert Marsh of Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

 in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 and Finchampstead

Finchampstead

Finchampstead is a civil parish near Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire. Its northern extremity is situated south of Wokingham, west of Bracknell, south-east of Reading, and west of Central London.-Geography:...

 in Berkshire. Harrison matriculated at St Mary Hall, Oxford

St Mary Hall, Oxford

St Mary Hall was an academic hall of the University of Oxford associated with Oriel College since 1326, but which functioned independently from 1545 to 1902.- History :...

 on 1 July, 1603 aged 19. He inherited the estates of Hurst and East Court at Finchampstead from a grand uncle Richard Warde (the son of Richard Warde Senior MP). He was knighted on 31 August 1621.

In 1621 Harrison 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,...

 (MP) for Wootton Bassett

Wootton Bassett (UK Parliament constituency)

Wootton Bassett was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1447 until 1832, when the rotten borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

. He was elected MP for Berkshire

Berkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Berkshire was a parliamentary constituency in England, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885...

 in 1624 and again in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Harrison lived at his manor-house at Hurst, and was a friend of Archbishop Laud

William Laud

William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...

, who referred to him in his diary in 1625 and 1626 when Laud visited Sir Francis Windebank

Francis Windebank

Sir Francis Windebank was an English politician who was Secretary of State under Charles I.The only son of Sir Thomas Windebank of Hougham, Lincolnshire, who owed his advancement to the Cecil family, Francis entered St John's College, Oxford, in 1599, coming there under the influence of the...

 at Haines Hill in Hurst. He is said to have been created a baronet but the patent was lost. He was High Sheriff of Berkshire

High Sheriff of Berkshire

The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'....

 in 1636.

In April 1640, Harrison was elected MP for Windsor

Windsor (UK Parliament constituency)

Windsor is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In its modern form, it elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

. In the civil war, his son Richard fought on the Royalist side and the family suffered in the royal cause.

Harrison married Frances, the daughter of George Garrard, of Dorney

Dorney

Dorney is a village and civil parish within South Bucks district in the English county of Buckinghamshire, near Slough and about two and a half miles west of Eton.The village name is Old English and means "island frequented by bumble bees"...

 in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, and his wife, Margaret Dacres. They had two sons and three daughters.

Harrison died at the age of 72 and was buried in Hurst parish church.