Edward Harris (Irish judge)

Sir Edward Harris (1575–1636) of Cornworthy in Devon, was Chief Justice of Munster in Ireland, and was a Member of Parliament for Clonakilty 1613–15 in the Irish House of Commons of the Parliament of Ireland. He was the grandfather of the faith healer Valentine Greatrakes. Elrington Ball describes him as a man who acquired "both wealth and friends" in Ireland. He was inclined to ostentatious display of his riches, and often wore a valuable jewel on a gold chain.

He was born at Cornworthy in Devon, eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Harris (1547-1610) of Cornworthy Priory, serjeant-at-law, by his wife Elizabeth Pomeroy (d.1634), daughter of Henry Pomeroy, who was supposedly 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 (d.1640) "a man much commended for his pregnant wit and learning". Sir Thomas Harris's father was Edward Harris (d.1592) (the son of Walter Harris of Monmouthshire) who had purchased Cornworthy Priory at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

He 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, quickly became the dominant political figure in Munster. 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 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.

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