Initially we had no information about this man but as soon as we published we were contacted by a few people who had taken on the challenge of identification. Mike Coleman has found his entry in the National Probate Calendar for 1938: "Harrison, the reverend Joseph of 23 Webster Gardens, Ealing, Middx, clerk, died 9 April 1938 at 11 Grange Park Ealing. Probate: London 3 June to Harry Higham Langston-Jones oil refiner and Richard Hill Langston-Jones, engineer. Effects £15,725 3s 7d."
Our colleague, Andrew Behan, rose to the challenge and reports that Joseph Harrison was born on 22 January 1857, a son of Joseph and Mary Harrison. His father was a draper and his birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1857 in the Leicester registration district, In the 1861 census he is shown as a scholar, living at 34 Market Place, Leicester, Leicestershire, with his widowered father, Joseph Harrison (1832-1888), two elder siblings: Mary Harrison & Ada Harrison, together with a housekeeper/governess and two other female domestic servants plus two female draper's assistants.
In the 1871 census he was described as a scholar, boarding at St John's College, College Lane, Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks, Sussex and in the 1881 census he is shown as an assistant master at St Chad's College, Denstone, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.
The 1891 census describes him as a Clerk in Holy Orders and a teacher of mathematics. He was also listed as the headmaster of St Oswald's College, Ellesmere, Shropshire. In the 3rd quarter of 1893 in the Conway registration district, Caernarvonshire, Wales, he married a widow called Katherine Emma Langston-Jones née Hill (1853-1928) whose previous husband, Harry Langston-Jones (1841-1881) had died twelve years earlier.
When the 1901 census was taken he is shown as a Church of England clergyman residing at 23 Webster Gardens, Ealing, with two step sons: Harry Higham Langston-Jones (1881-1955) and Richard Hill Langston-Jones (1882-1958), his sister-in-law Sarah S. Hill, together with a female general domestic servant. He was also shown at this address in the 1901 electoral registers.
When he completed the 1911 census form he described himself as a clergyman in the Established Church residing in an eight roomed property at Clovelly, Wellington Road, Hampton Hill, with his wife and a female general domestic servant.
The above mentioned probate records confirm that he died, aged 81 years, on 9 April 1938 at 11 Grange Park, Ealing.
Julie Foster adds that Harrison was headmaster at St Oswald's School, now Ellesmere College, 1890-94 and Crockfords gives him as curate of St Mary's Ealing 1900-04, Vicar of East Molesey 1904-06.
As to why the plaque and by whom? It's still an open question.
