Nicolas Sir Nicholas Harris

Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris, was born at Looe, in Cornwall, in 1799. He became a lieutenant in the navy at the early age of sixteen, but being unable, after the peace, to obtain employment in the service, he was called to the bar in 1825, and subsequently obtained the appointment of secretary to the Knights Commanders and Companions of the Bath and Chancellor of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, of which, in 1840, he was made a Knight Grand Cross. He is chiefly remembered for his numerous and learned literary works, among which may be noted his edition of Lord Nelson's Letters and Despatches, and his unhappily uncompleted History of the Royal Navy; he was also a distinguished inventor, and made several improvements in telegraphy and in marine signalling. He died in 1848.