Most of our earlier Harris family were blacksmiths in the area between Ryde and Shanklin, Isle of Wight. George Harris, our 3xGreat Grandfather was a blacksmith living and working all of his life at the Smithy, Elm Cottage, Shanklin. His father William was also a blacksmith.

George was the youngest child of a family with 12 children, from the Brading/Shanklin area. He married Elizabeth Smith in Brading in 1826. They had seven children, the first was William James Harris, whose life is described in the page about Charles Henry Harris.

As well as being a blacksmith George Harris had another notable role - he was the parish clerk for St Blasius Church Shanklin for about 30 years until his death in 1887. He appears often as a witness in marriages that took place at St Blasius.

Here you can see him in an extract from a directory from 1859: