He emigrated to New Zealand in early 1860 and arrived in Auckland, where he went into business.
[1] When his business failed, he was attracted by the Otago gold rush in 1861, but ended up working as a staff member of Julius Vogel on the Otago Daily Times.
[5] He represented the Greymouth riding from February 1868 to December 1870 on the Westland County.
[6] In the first election for the Grey County in December 1876, he was the returning officer for the Cobden riding.
The prognosis was for incurable cancer, and Harrison died in Melbourne on 30 May 1879, aged 48.