John Harris (c. 1666 – 7 September 1719) was an English writer, scientist, and Anglican priest. He is best known as the editor of the Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1704), the earliest of English encyclopedias; as the compiler of the Collection of Voyages and Travels, published posthumously under his name by John Campbell; and as the author of an unfinished county history of Kent. Harris was born in Shropshire England and studied at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1696 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, of which he briefly served as vice-president. He unfortunately died in poverty due to fiscal mismanagement.