Harriet was born in Netherbury three years after her family moved into the property on Bridge St that used to be a shop and is now part of "The Redes". Unlike her sisters Sophia and Anna Hanna neither Harriet nor her older sister Elizabeth married and it is assumed they worked alongside their mother Betty in the shop.

By the time of the first proper census in 1841 an 88 year old Betty is recorded as head of the household (as Elizabeth Shire) with her two remaining daughters Elizabeth and Harriet. This is also the first actual record of the shop because Betty has "Shop M" entered as her "Profession, Trade or Employment", although at 88 it is probable that Elizabeth and Harriet were doing most of the work.

Betty died aged 92 and it would appear that the two sisters carried on the business with the listing "Shier Misses Eliz. & Harriet, shopkprs" appearing in the 1849 PO Directory for Dorsetshire & Wilts. They are recorded as running the shop in several other trade listings and the 1851 census.

After Elizabeth died in 1852 Harriet moved to Bradpole. It's not been possible to find Harriet in the 1861 censuses of either Netherbury or Bradpole but when she was left a legacy of £200 by her friend Hannah Clare in a Will drawn up in 1866 she's indentified as "of Bradpole" so it is assumed she'd left the shop before then. An announcement in the Bridport News of 24th April, 1869 records her death as "April 19, at Bradpole Road, Bridport, Miss Shier, aged 82 years." She was buried in Loders alongside her parents and sisters as directed in her will.

As well as directions for her funeral Harriet's Will lists many bequests to her nieces, nephews and friends as well as suggesting she may have had another sister - Sarah - who married Robert Knight of Chideock and had two sons (Matthew & Edward Sackville) and at least one grandson (John Shier Knight). It has been impossible to find any birth or baptism records to suggest John & Betty had another daughter although John did have a sister called Sarah so although she describes Edward Sackville Knight as her Nephew he may have been her Cousin.