John Harris (anti-slavery campaigner)

Sir John Hobbis Harris (29 July 1874 – 30 April 1940) was an English missionary, campaigner against slavery and Liberal Party politician.

He and his wife departed for the Congo Free State soon after their marriage but they were soon horrified by the brutal treatment, murder and enslavement of the native people at the hands of the Belgian and other European agents exploiting the territory for rubber and ivory.

Ahead of his time, Harris became a campaigner against the colonial system of the day and promoted the idea of self-determination for native peoples.

This must have seemed a winnable seat as the result at the 1929 general election had been a narrow victory for the Conservative Richard Long by just 67 votes over the Liberal Harcourt Johnstone, with Labour in third place.

[12] However, in the conditions of the 1931 general election and the crisis which had led to the formation of the National Government of Ramsay MacDonald, although neither Conservative nor Liberal candidates fought with the suffix National on their descriptions, the Tory Robert Grimston seems to have picked up the pro-government surge and won with a majority of 5,935 over Harris with Labour in third place.

[14] Harris died suddenly from bronchitis and a cerebral haemorrhage[15] on 30 April 1940 in the garden of his home in Frome, aged 65 years.