{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Jean Thomson Harris | image = Jean_Thomson_Harris.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Jean Thomson | birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|11|06|df=y}} | birth_place = Edinburgh | death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|11|09|1881|11|06|df=y}} | death_place = Edinburgh | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = wife of founder of Rotary | education = | spouse = Paul P. Harris | parents = | relatives = }} '''Jean Thomson Harris''' (6 November 1881 – 9 November 1963) was the wife of Paul Harris,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The writing on the walls|last=Elizabeth.|first=Berry|date=1990|publisher=Published by the Cockburn Association in collaboration with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Saltire Society|others=Cockburn Association.|isbn=0950515922|location=Edinburgh|oclc=24699879}}</ref> a lawyer who founded the first Rotary Club in Chicago in 1905. She supported the organisation but was never allowed to join because she was a woman. She eventually joined the Inner Wheel and she was the first honorary member of the Inner Wheel Club of Edinburgh. Both her birthplace and burial site are commemorated with plaques. She is known internationally.
== Early life == left|thumb|A plaque in Cumberland Street She was born in 1881 at 9 Cumberland Street, in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. She was the daughter of John Thomson,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newington-cemetery.org.uk/notable-graves_jean-thomson-harris.html|title=Newington Cemetery - Jean Thomson Harris (1881 - 1963)|website=www.newington-cemetery.org.uk|access-date=2019-02-15}}</ref> furniture packer from Logie Pert in Forfarshire<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://womenofscotland.org.uk/memorials/memorial-jean-thomson-harris|title=Memorial to Jean Thomson Harris {{!}} Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland|website=womenofscotland.org.uk|access-date=2019-02-15}}</ref> and later a minister in the Church of Scotland<ref name=":0" /> and his wife Ann Youngson, from Peterhead.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The family continued to live in Cumberland Street until 1892, when they rented a flat in the newly built Comely Bank Avenue in Edinburgh.<ref name=":2" />
After leaving school, Jean worked as a lady's maid for a number of families in Edinburgh.<ref name=":2" />
== Married life == Along with other members of her family,<ref name=":2" /> Jean moved to the US, where her sister already lived, in order to work as a nanny.<ref name=":0" />
In Chicago she met Paul Harris,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=The first Rotarian : the life and times of Paul Percy Harris, founder of Rotary|last=Walsh, S. Patraig, 1922-|date=1979|publisher=Scan Books|others=Treadwell, Harry.|isbn=0906360021|location=Shoreham [England]|oclc=5677744}}</ref> whom she married on 2 July 1910.<ref name=":0" />
The couple bought a house on Longwood Drive in Morgan Park, a suburb of Chicago, and named it Comely Bank, after the area in Edinburgh where Jean had lived as a child.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
== Impact on Rotary == A month after their marriage, Paul was elected President of the national Rotary organisation, with Chesley Perry as secretary.<ref name=":3" /> Jean recalled "We wives played a very small part at convention in those days; our young men were struggling to find themselves."<ref name=":3" />
When Paul began to take time off from his job as a lawyer to travel to Rotary conventions, Jean accompanied him.<ref name=":3" /> thumb|Jean Thomson Harris and Paul Harris in Buenos Aires during a tour of South American clubs In 1934 Jean and Paul were invited to visit the Rotary Club of Edinburgh, where the Lord Provost invited Paul to speak as guest of honour at the Assembly of the Lord Provosts of Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rghfhome.org/first100/women/jeanharris/|title=Jean Thomson Harris|website=www.rghfhome.org|access-date=2019-04-05|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406232836/https://www.rghfhome.org/first100/women/jeanharris/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Whilst on a Rotary visit to Melbourne, Australia, Paul was tired and asked Jean to speak on his behalf, which she did.<ref name=":3" />
Jean became a member of the Inner Wheel, and in 1946 was made the first honorary member of the Inner Wheel Club of Edinburgh.<ref name=":2" />
== Later life and death == After Harris died in 1947, Jean briefly continued to live at Comely Bank but then sold the house and returned to her native Edinburgh,<ref name=":1" /> and died in Scotland on 9 November 1963.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> thumb|Her grave She is buried in Newington Cemetery, Edinburgh.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
== Memorials == A plaque was erected at her birthplace at 9 Cumberland Street, Edinburgh, by the Rotary Club St Louis (No 11), Missouri, US.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":2" />
Another memorial is found on the gate of Newington Cemetery, Edinburgh, where she is buried.<ref name=":2" />
Jean is mentioned in Rotary literature in many countries.
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Jean Thomson}} Category:Rotary International leaders Category:People from Chicago Category:1881 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States