| Harris Bigg-Wither 1781-1833 |
| Written by Blair Rogers | |||||||||||||||
| Monday, 20 March 2006 | |||||||||||||||
Harris Bigg-Wither (18 May 1781–23 March 1833) was a wealthy English country gentleman who stood to inherit Manydown Park and other land holdings 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.
BiographyEarly yearsHarris 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).  Bigg-Wither family coat of arms.[1] 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.[2] 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, then at Winchester College, and finishing his education at Worcester College, Oxford.[3] Proposal to Jane AustenHistory 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. [4] Marriage to Anne Howe FrithLess 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.[5] Manydown ParkAfter 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. Issue of Harris Bigg-Wither and Anne Howe FrithBigg-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:[6]
The Bigg sisters in Jane Austen's lifeJane and Cassandra Austen were great friends with three of Harris’s elder sisters, Elizabeth, Alethea and Catherine Bigg.[7][8] 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.[9][10] In May 1817, Jane was persuaded by Elizabeth and Alethea Bigg 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.[11] Harris Bigg-Wither is my Fourth Great-Grandfather. Blair M. O.L. Rogers
Notable relations of Harris Bigg-Wither
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 02 April 2007 ) | |||||||||||||||
