Harris Bigg-Wither
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Harris Bigg-Wither (18 May 1781–23 March 1833) was a wealthy English country gentleman who stood to inherit Manydown Park in the parish of Wootton St Lawrence in Hampshire. It was at Manydown Park in 1802, that Jane Austen received, accepted, and then rejected, a proposal of marriage from Harris Bigg-Wither.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Harris Bigg-Wither was born on 18 May 1781 at Chilton Folliat, Wiltshire, the second youngest of nine children, and was named after his grandmother (Jane Harris). He became his father’s heir of Manydown Park and other land holdings in 1794 at the age of thirteen, when his elder brother Lovelace Wither Bigg died 3rd March 1794 as a student at Winchester College, aged fourteen. A letter of his father's, Lovelace Bigg-Wither, to Mr. James Blackstone, dated 7 July 1799, shows great anxiety about Harris' future education, especially as he suffered from a speech defect. He was educated initially by a private tutor called Mr. Wallington, and finished his education at Worcester College, Oxford.
[edit] Proposal to Jane Austen
History records that on the night of Thursday 2 December 1802 when Jane and Cassandra were staying at Manydown Park, Harris proposed to Jane Austen. Jane accepted his proposal but the next morning decided to break the engagement off. That led to a confrontation ending in the Austen sisters demanding that their brother James must abandon his duties as a clergyman and escort them back to Bath.[citation needed]
[edit] Marriage to Anne Howe Frith
Less than two years after the rejection from Jane Austen, Harris married on 2 November 1804 at East Dean, Sussex. His wife was Anne Howe Frith, only daughter of Beddington Bramley Frith, of Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, Lieutenant-Colonel of the North Hampshire Militia, by his wife, Jane Howe, heiress of Brook House. They lived at Wymering Manor, Portsmouth, Hampshire.
[edit] Manydown Park
After his father's death in 1813, Harris took over Manydown Park, where he lived as a country squire.
Manydown Park was a mansion with one wing dating back to the Tudor times, but a modernized interior with an elegant staircase leading to a grand first-floor drawing room which had a large bay window overlooking impressive grounds. Beyond were farm lands of 1,500 acres. The Manydown Park mansion was pulled down in 1965.
[edit] Issue of Harris Bigg-Wither and Anne Howe Frith
Bigg-Wither and Anne Howe Frith had five sons and five daughters. The seven eldest were born at Wymering, and four of the five sons took Holy Orders, while all five daughters remained unmarried:
- Lovelace, born 17 September 1805 - died 6 February 1874. Succeeded Harris Bigg-Wither.
- Harris Jervoise, born 31 October 1806 - died 1 December 1887. Rector of Worting, Hants for 47 years.
- Margaret, born 1808 - died March 1883.
- William Henry Walter, born 9 November 1809 - died 2 April 1899. Fellow of New College, Oxford, and after thirty-six years as Curate of Otterbourne, Hampshire, became Rector of Hardwicke, Buckinghamshire.
- Walter John Percival, born 15 February 1811 - died 15 March 1876. Vicar of Herriard and of Wootton St Lawrence.
- Jane Dorothy, born 1812 - died 1858.
- Anne Frances, born 1814 - died 1874.
- Elizabeth Mary Bramston, born 1817 - died 1879.
- Marianne, born 1819 - died June 1900.
- Charles, born 27th April 1822 - died 28 June 1894. emigrated to Nelson, New Zealand in 1843, became a successful farmer, Member of the New Zealand Legislative Council, a founding Governor of Nelson College, and he sat for many years as Justice of the Peace on the bench at Richmond.
[edit] The Bigg-Wither sisters in Jane Austen's life
Jane and Cassandra Austen were friends with three of Harris’s elder sisters, Elizabeth, Alethea and Catherine Bigg. Jane Austen’s family home, Steventon Rectory, was situated just 2½ miles from Manydown Park, and the Austen sisters often stayed overnight at Manydown Park if the ladies had been out together.[citation needed]
In May 1817, Jane was persuaded by Elizabeth and Alethea Bigg-Wither to seek medical advice from Mr. Giles Lyford, a celebrated doctor in Winchester. The two sisters found lodgings for Jane and Cassandra Austen with Mrs. David at 8 College Street. There Jane died on 18 July 1817.
[edit] Notable relations of Harris Bigg-Wither
- William Juxon - Harris is a 5th Great Grand Nephew.
- Sir William Blackstone - Harris is a 1st Cousin one timed removed
- Rev. W.V. Awdry - Harris is his Great Grand Uncle
- Sarah, Duchess of York - Harris is her 3rd Cousin seven times removed
- George Wither - 4th Great-Grand Uncle
