William Harris (Sandpiper)

William Harris (* 1813 in England ; † after 1888 in Nauru ) one was a British beach runners (Engl. Beachcomber ).

Harris escaped from the British penal colony of Norfolk Island in 1842 and fled to Nauru . There he took on the Nauruan culture and became an influential liaison when European immigration began. He married a Nauru woman and had some children with her; Harris is therefore possibly the progenitor of René Harris , the former president of Nauru. He was probably the only sandpiper who was accepted as a full Nauruer.

Harris lost two of his children in the Nauruan Tribal War (1878-1888) who were shot. On September 21, 1881, the British Royal Navy learned of the war from Harris. Like King Auweyida, he expressly asked for a missionary to end the war; since until 1888 no missionary was sent to Nauru, Harris tried in 1887 in vain to obtain permission to move to Kosrae .

When German troops marched into Nauru in October 1888 , Harris helped capture the tribal chiefs and was thus instrumental in the end of the war. He was already 76 years old at the time, but the year of his death is unknown.

literature

Luc Folliet: Nauru, the devastated island. Wagenbach, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-8031-2654-2 , pp. 21-24.