HARRIS, John Percival DSC QC 1925-2022

[Richard R]

From the Times of 4 Oct 2022: HARRIS His Honour John Percival (Percy) DSC QC died on 28th September 2022, aged 97. Beloved husband of Janet and father of Juliet, Charlotte and Steven and grandfather of ten. Funeral for family only, with no memorial service.

He was s of Thomas Percival HARRIS 1896-1981 by his 1922 m reg Q3 Beds. to Nora May 1896-1985 d of Alfred William WOOD 1868-1940 by his 1892 m reg Q2 Beds to Edith Marian MAY 1870-1957. He m 1959 Janet Valerie b 1937 d of Maj Archibald William DOUGLAS 1907-98 (2xgt gs of Sir William DOUGLAS 4th Bt 1730-83 f of 6th & 7th Marquesses of QUEENSBERRY) and Barbara Middlemost 1904-70 d of Herbert Pratt BAIRSTOW 1874-1932 by his 1900 m reg Q3 Yorks to Ethel Ward MIDDLEMOST 1876-1966, and had a son and two daus as above.

[S R Eglesfield]

The elder daughter of Herbert Pratt BAIRSTOW and his wife, née  Ethel Ward MIDDLEMOST, was Joan Middlemost BAIRSTOW (1901 - 1977), who was married in 1921 to Major William Cumming BELL (1898 - 1 IX 1951), by whom she had three daughters, the eldest, Anne Bairstow Cumming BELL (3 IX 1924 - 27 XII 2002), being the first wife (married 27 April 1946, divorced 1956) of Charles John Robert MANNERS, 10th Duke of Rutland (28 V 1919 - 2 I 1999).

[colinp]

Obit in Daily Telegraph 2 December 2022 - Percy Harris, circuit judge dubbed ‘Bomber’ Harris who won the DSC for hunting down a U-boat – obituary (telegraph.co.uk)

BRIEF EXTRACTS:

Percy Harris, circuit judge dubbed ‘Bomber’ Harris who won the DSC for hunting down a U-boat – obituary

He was known for his impatience in the courtroom, giving long-winded barristers the yellow card or, if pushed, a red one

His Honour Judge Percy Harris, who has died aged 97, won a DSC as a 19-year-old midshipman following the chase and destruction of the German U-boat 1172 in the Irish Sea in January 1945; later in life he caught the attention of the press with some mildly crusty obiter dicta from the circuit court bench.

The son of a bank manager, John Percival Harris was born on February 16 1925. He was educated at Wells Cathedral School, where he was head boy, before going up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, to read Law....

He married, in 1959, Jan Douglas. She survives him with their son and two daughters.

Judge Percy Harris, born February 16 1925, died September 28 2022