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John Mackenzie (30 August 1835 – 23 March 1899) was a missionary and statesman in Southern Africa.

Family

Mackenzie was born in Knockando, Moray, Scotland, the youngest son of John McKenzie and Ann Mcintosh. Harris was descended from Sir Amias Poulett, English ambassador to France in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and afterwards keeper of Mary Queen of Scots.

Education and life in England

Harris was educated from 1837 at the Manchester Free Grammar School and from 1839 Trinity College, Cambridge where he graduated B.A. with honours in 1843, and M.A. in 1852. He was ordained deacon in 1847 and priest in 1849 in the Church of England. He engaged in teaching and became a master at Huddersfield Technical College in 1844, and five years later was appointed classics master at the Blackheath preparatory school. In 1844 he married Catherine Prior Hall, with whom he had six children, including Georgiana Poulett Harris (Mrs. Ingle, 1845-1919), first headmistress of Christchurch Girls' High School in New Zealand.

Tasmania

After his wife's death in June 1856, Harris went to Tasmania to became headmaster of the Hobart high school, and filled the position with much ability, inspiring both respect and affection from his pupils. In 1858 he married Elizabeth Eleanor Milward, with whom he had another six children. It was at Harris' suggestion that an act was passed in 1858 founding a system of school examinations based on the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations, and also founding the Tasmanian scholarships of £200 a year tenable at English universities. He was one of the original members of the council of education founded in 1859, and long advocated the establishment of the University of Tasmania. He resigned from his headmastership in 1885 and lived in retirement near Hobart. When the university was founded in 1890 Harris was elected the first warden of the senate. He was also the first Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge in Tasmania [1].

Death and family

He died at Woodbridge, Tasmania, on 23 December 1899, and was survived by his wife, and of his first marriage: Georgiana (see above); Katharine (1847-1940); Annie Louisa (1853-1922), and Lovell Andrews (1856-1929); and of his second marriage: Eleanor Mary (1865-1931), Henry Vere (1866-1933), Anna May (1869-1953), and Louisa Violet (b. 1873). Louisa's younger twin, Lily, died from Tubercular Peritonitis in 1897, aged 23, having been a teacher at the Ladies' Grammar School and Kindergarten in Davey Street, Hobart that was run by her sisters. A memorial for her exists in the All Saints' Anglican Church in Macquarie Street, South Hobart.

Richard and his daughters Eleanor and Lily are buried in the same grave at Cornelian Bay Cemetery.

References

• E. L. French, 'Harris, Richard Deodatus Poulett (1817 - 1899)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 352-353. Retrieved 20 January 2009

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Harris, Richard Deodatus Poulett". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
• Rector and Grand Master: Being a Memoir of the Late Rev. Richard Deodatus Poulett-Harris Rector of The High School, Hobart and the First Grand Master of the Tasmanian Masons (Launceston, 1903)

Category:1835 births Category:1899 deaths Category:Missionaries Category:South Africans of Scottish descent