Harrison, John (b. March 1693, Foulby, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. March 24, 1776, London) British horologist. The son of a carpenter, in 1735 he invented the first practical marine chronometer. He followed it with three later instruments, each smaller and more accurate than its predecessor, and in 1762 his No. 4 chronometer was found to be in error by only five seconds (1 1/4' longitude) after a voyage from England to Jamaica. Chro¬ nometers gave mariners their first practical method of fixing position at sea from celestial observations. See also Ferdinand Berthoud.
Harrison, Sir Rex orig. Reginald Carey Harrison (b. March 5, 1908, Huyton, Lancashire, Eng.—d. June 2, 1990, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British actor. He made his debut in films and on the London stage in 1930, later appearing in successful plays such as French Without Tears (1936). After World War II he returned to the screen as a suave leading man in films such as Blithe Spirit (1945) and Notorious Gentleman (1945). He made his U.S. film debut in Anna and the King of Siam (1946). His most famous role, as Prof. Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1956, Tony Award), won him equal acclaim in its film version (1964, Academy Award). He was an impressive Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963).
Harrison, William Henry (b. Feb. 9, 1773, Charles City county, Va.—d. April 4, 1841, Washington,
D.C., U.S.) Ninth president of the U.S. (1841). Born into a politically prominent family, he enlisted in the army at age 18 and served under Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. In 1798 he became secretary of the Northwest Territo¬ ries and in 1800 governor of the new Indiana Territory. In response to pressure from white settlers, he negotiated treaties with the Indians that ceded millions of acres of addi¬ tional land to the U.S. When Tecum- seh organized an uprising in 1811,
Harrison led a U.S. force to defeat the Indians at the Battle of Tippeca¬ noe, a victory that largely established his reputation in the public mind. In the War of 1812 he was made a brigadier general and defeated the British and their Indian allies at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario. After the war he moved to Ohio, where he
became prominent in the Whig Party. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1816-19) and Senate (1825-28). As the Whig candidate in the 1836 presidential election, he lost narrowly. In 1840 he and his running mate, John Tyler, won election with a slogan emphasizing Harri¬ son’s frontier triumph: “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” The 68-year-old Har¬ rison delivered his inaugural speech without a hat or overcoat in a cold drizzle, contracted pneumonia, and died one month later; he was the first U.S. president to die in office.
William Henry Harrison, detail of an oil painting by Abel Nichols; in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mas¬ sachusetts.
Harrods \'har-odz\ Renowned London department store. It was founded by a miller, Henry Charles Harrod, as a grocery store in 1849. The store expanded in the late 1800s, and many new departments were added. Though Harrods still sells gourmet food, it now emphasizes fashionable clothing. Known for its zealous customer service, it is considered the best department store in Britain. In 1985 it was bought by Mohammed al-Fayed (bom 1933).
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Harrow School ► Hartline I 843
Harrow School Independent boarding school for boys in Harrow, Greater London, England. Its founder, John Lyon (d. 1592), was a yeo¬ man of neighboring Preston who yearly set aside funds for the education of poor children of Harrow. Elizabeth I granted the school’s charter in 1571, and the first building was opened in 1611. It has long been renowned as one of the two or three greatest English public (i.e., independent) schools; its graduates include Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord Byron, Sir Robert Peel, and Winston Churchill.
Harsa or Harsha Vhor-shoV or Harsavardhana Vhor-sho-'vor- d3-no\ (b. c. 590—d. c. 647) Ruler of a large empire in northern India (606-47). He was a Buddhist convert in a Hindu era. He brought what is now Uttar Pradesh and parts of Punjab and Rajasthan under his hegemony, but he contented himself with tribute and homage and never built a cen¬ tralized empire. His chroniclers, including the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, describe him as benevolent and energetic. He set up institutions to benefit the poor and the sick and established the first diplomatic relations between India and China (641). A patron of scholars, he was himself a poet.
Hart, Basil Liddell See Basil Liddell Hart
Hart, Lorenz (Milton) (b. May 2, 1895, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Nov. 22, 1943, New York City) U.S. lyricist. A descendant of Heinrich Heine, Hart initially worked as a translator of German. In 1918 he met Richard Rodgers, then age 16, at Columbia University. Their many Broad¬ way hits would include The Garrick Gaieties (1925), A Connecticut Yan¬ kee (1927), The Boys from Syracuse (1938), and Pal Joey (1940). Their 25-year collaboration (often difficult because of Hart’s alcoholism and aversion to deadlines) yielded nearly 1,000 songs, including “Blue Moon” (their only song not introduced on stage or film), “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.” Hart died of liver failure at age 48.
Hart, Moss (b. Oct. 24, 1904, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 20, 1961, Palm Springs, Calif.) U.S. playwright and director. He wrote his first play at age 18 and achieved recognition when he collaborated with George S. Kaufman on Once in a Lifetime (1930). That success led to their popular comedies You Can’t Take It with You (1936, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1938) and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939; film, 1942). Hart wrote books for musicals for Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, wrote and directed plays such as Lady in the Dark (1941; film, 1944) and Winged Victory (1943; film, 1944), and directed the long-running musicals My Fair Lady (1956, Tony Award) and Came lot (1960).
Hart, William S. (b. Dec. 6, 1870, Newburgh, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 23, 1946, Newhall, Calif.) U.S. stage and film actor. He made his stage debut in 1889 and portrayed a series of western heroes in the plays The Squaw Man (1905), The Virginian (1907), and The Trail of the Lone¬ some Pine (1912). In 1914 he went to Hollywood, where his stern, taci¬ turn performances made him a star and the first cowboy hero. Among his numerous films, many of which he wrote and directed, were The Passing of Two-Gun Hicks (1914—
15), The Square-Deal Man (1917),
Wild Bill Hickok (1923), and A Lighter of Flames (1923).
Hartack, Bill in full William John Hartack (b. Dec. 9, 1932,
Ebensburg, Pa., U.S.) U.S. jockey.
He became the second jockey (after Eddie Arcaro) ever to win five Ken¬ tucky Derbies (1957, 1960, 1962,
1964, 1969). In 1956 he became the first jockey to win $2 million in a single year; he surpassed $3 million the following year. In 1972 he became the fifth jockey ever to win over 4,000 races.
Harte, Bret orig. Francis Brett Harte (b. Aug. 25, 1836, Albany, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 5, 1902, London, Eng.) U.S. writer. He briefly expe¬
rienced camp life in California min¬ ing country before becoming a newspaper and periodical editor and writer. His works, which helped cre¬ ate the local-colour school in Ameri¬ can fiction, include the short stories “The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1868) and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”
(1869), the poem “The Heathen Chinee” (1870), and the play Ah Sin (1877; with Mark Twain). In an era when the West was a popular subject, these works made him internation¬ ally famous. His writing slumped in the 1870s, and he accepted consul¬ ships in Europe, never returning to the U.S.
hartebeest Vhar-t3-,best\ Either of two species of swift, slender ante¬ lope (genus Alcelaphus) found in herds on open plains and scrublands of sub-Saharan Africa. They often mingle with herds of other antelope or zebras. Hartebeests stand about 4 ft (1.2 m) tall at the shoulder, and the back slopes downward from heavy forequarters to narrow hindquarters.