Witnesses at Thomas & Kate's wedding were: Robert Cressswell, Charles Rans
or and Hannah Maria Creswell

The Late Mr. T. Bak
er Harrington
The Last High Constab
le of Colchester

The Essex County Standard of November 8, 1913: --The death of Mr. Thomas B
aker Harrington, which took place at his residence, 49, Colfe Road, Fore
st Hill, S.E., on October 31 , recalls the old days of the 6th Essex Volun
teers, of which he was for some sixteen years a most active member, a
nd in which the corps from private he attained to the rank of Captain Com
mandant . Son of Mr. Thomas Harrington, chemist, of high Street, the la
te Mr. Baker Harrington was a Freeman of the Borough, and took a keen inte
rest in all that concerned it's welfare. In the 1884 he was candidate f
or the Town Council in the then Third Ward, but was defeated. In the follo
wing year he came forward again and was elected at the head of the poll, t
hough he did not seek re-election at the end of his three years of offic
e. An interesting feature of Mr. Harrington's public career is that he w
as the last to hold the office of High Constable of this Borough. He wa
s, up to the year 1890, a member of the United Lodge of Freemasons, a
nd he also took a considerable interest in Friendly Societies, being Treas
urer for some portion of the local funds. Whilst resident in Colchester, M
r. Baker Harrington took an active part in political work, being an arde
nt Conservative, and was always ready to lend a helping hand at election t
imes. He leaves a widow, two sons and two daughters.

Mark Downe in his Colchester Jottings, in the Essex County Standard of Nov
ember 8, 1913, writes:- Death has removed an old Town councillor who was e
xtremely popular in his day---Mr. Baker Harrington. He was the last of t
he High Constables of the Borough. The high constableship was an ancient o
ffice which in it's later days was a sinecure. It carried with it a sala
ry of £10 per annum, and it appears that the sole duty involved was the si
nging of the rate precepts to the overseers. Mr. Thomas Harrington, perha
ps realising that such an emolument was hardly proportionate to the servic
es demanded of him, honourably resigned the office in October 1884, a
nd at the November Council meeting in that year, when his resignation w
as accepted, it was simultaneously resolved to appoint no successor, a
nd to let the office lapse. From a historical point of view it might perha
ps have been better to have abolished the salary and to have kept up the o
ld office on an honorary basis, for the sake of preserving an ancient cust
om, which has already passed into practical oblivion, but no such idea see
ms to have occurred at the time, and it would be scarcely worth while n
ow to revive the obsolete title.