Thomas Harris was the first mayor of Victoria, British Columbia, serving from 1862 to 1865.

Born in Almeley

Almeley

Almeley is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England.- Location :Almeley is in the west of the county, about north-west of Hereford, south-west of Leominster and from the border with Wales .-General description of village:...

, Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, Harris married Emily Dickinson, a widow, in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in 1848. Harris came to Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

 by way of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1858, at the height of the Cariboo gold rush. He ran a slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse

A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...

 for a time, then became a butcher

Butcher

A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...

 shortly afterward and made his fortune.

A jovial man who had an opinion on everything and wasn't afraid to tell whoever would listen, he was a likely candidate for election

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

 in 1862 when the town's father decided to incorporate the town. At election time, Harris won by "forest of hands" amid a group of 600 men. During his second official council meeting, the 300 pound (136 kg) Harris had a chair collapse under his own weight.

In 1873, he was named sergeant-at-arms for the provincial legislature. He was named high sheriff for Vancouver Island in 1876.

Harris Green, an area within Victoria, is named after him.

His stepson Robert Dickinson

Robert Dickinson (British Columbia politician)

Robert Dickinson was an English-born businessman and political figure in British Columbia. He represented New Westminster City in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1875 to 1878....

took over the shop in New Westminster and served as mayor of that city.