Edward Harrison (British administrator)
| Edward Harrison | |
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| President of Fort St George (Madras) | |
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In office 11 July 1711 – 8 January 1717 |
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| Preceded by | William Fraser (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Collett |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 December 1674 |
| Died | 28 November 1732 |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Bray (1674–1752) |
| Children | Audrey Ethelreda Harrison |
| Signature |  |
Edward Harrison (3 December 1674 – 28 November 1732) was a British official who served as the President of Madras from 11 July 1711 to 8 January 1717. Subsequently he was Member of Parliament for Weymouth, and then for Hertford.
Edward Harrison was born in England to Richard Harrison and Audrey Villiers.
Since its occupation by the Mughals in 1698, Gingee had been ruled by Swaroop Singh, who was actually the Rajput Governor of the Mughal province who had declared his independence and assumed the title of Raja. The English at Fort St David frequently failed to pay their rents to the Raja. On one such occasion when Swaroops Singh did not receive any rent for the villages, he responded by capturing two English officers from Fort St David and imprisoning them. Matters came to standstill in February 1711, when open hostilitiews broke out between the kingdom of Gingee and the British settlement at Fort St David. Three Muslim officers in the service of Gingee and one officer of the British East India Company were killed in the ensuing hostilities. Harrison sent Richard Raworth, a member of the Council of Fort St George along with three ships to the scene of action to settle the matter.
Raworth arrived in Fort St David with three ships as Fort St David was blockaded by Swaroop Singh from land. Raworth's troops ran into a contingent of 400 cavalry and 1,000 foot commanded by Mahobat Khan on 11 August 1711 and barely managed to hold their ground. However, two top officers in the army,Captain Coventry ande Ensign Somerville both lost their lives along with around 140 to 150 men of the Company's army. With matters reaching a standstill,Edward Harrison tried to enthuse the Nawab of Carnatic to come to the Company's aid but failed miserably. In the meantime, Richard Raworth was made the deputy Governor at Fort St David. Immediately on assumption of office, Raworth negotiated terms of peace with the Raja of Gingee. The Raja demanded a war indemnity of 16,000 pagodas in return for which he promised to cede three villages whose names have been mentioned as Trevandrun, Padre Copang and Coronuttum. However, even as the matter was under consideration, hostilities broke out once more when the Company troops attacked the forces of Gingee at Crimambakkam on 25 January 1712.
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