Edward Harrison (3 December 1674 – 28 November 1732) was a naval officer and official of the East India Company and British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1717 to 1726. He served as the President of Madras from 11 July 1711 to 8 January 1717. Early life Edward Harrison was born in England to Richard Harrison and Audrey Villiers daughter of George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison. He went to India as a purser, and became a captain of ships trading with China. He was Captain of the East Indiaman Gosfright in 1701, and of the Kent in 1709. Sometime before 1708 he married Frances Bray, daughter of Reginald Bray of Great Barrington, Gloucestershire. Her brothers Edmund and William Bray were Members of Parliament. Tenure as President of Madras Harrison was appointed Governor and Commander in Chief of the Madras Presidency in 1711. During his time in office he undertook a major rebuilding of the settlement. He dealt with several incidents, including the putting down of a minor revolt. The East India Company presented him with a sword of honour. War with Gingee Since its occupation by the Mughals in 1698, Gingee had been ruled by Swaroop Singh, who was actually the Rajput Governor of the Mughal province who had declared his independence and assumed the title of Raja. The English at Fort St David frequently failed to pay their rents to the Raja. On one such occasion when Swaroops Singh did not receive any rent for the villages, he responded by capturing two English officers from Fort St David and imprisoning them. Matters came to standstill in February 1711, when open hostilities broke out between the kingdom of Gingee and the British settlement at Fort St David. Three Muslim officers in the service of Gingee and one officer of the British East India Company were killed in the ensuing hostilities. Harrison sent Richard Raworth, a member of the Council of Fort St George along with three ships to the scene of action to settle the matter. Raworth arrived in Fort St David with three ships as Fort St David was blockaded by Swaroop Singh from land. Raworth's troops ran into a contingent of 400 cavalry and 1,000-foot commanded by Mahobat Khan on 11 August 1711 and barely managed to hold their ground. However, two top officers in the army, Captain Coventry and Ensign Somerville both lost