William Harcourt (politician)

The Right Honourable Sir William Harcourt KC
Leader of the Opposition
In office 6 October 1896 – 8 December 1898
Preceded by	The Earl of Rosebery
Succeeded by	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 18 August 1892 – 21 June 1895
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by	George Goschen
Succeeded by	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt
In office 6 February 1886 – 20 July 1886
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt
Succeeded by	Lord Randolph Churchill
Home Secretary
In office 28 April 1880 – 23 June 1885
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	R. A. Cross
Succeeded by	R. A. Cross
Personal details
Born	(1827-10-14)14 October 1827
Died	1 October 1904(1904-10-01) (aged 76)
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	(1) Maria Theresa Lister (d. 1863) (2) Elizabeth Cabot Motley (d. 1928)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt

Historian Roy Jenkins says he was "too much of a party man. In manner and by origin he was a patrician figure, but he saw most issues exclusively in terms of parliamentary infighting… His views were usually much more of a reaction to what his political enemies, in the other party and in his own, were saying than the result of any objective thought. He inspired considerable loyalty among his followers – the Great Gladiator he was sometimes enthusiastically called – but his colleagues, partly as a result of his execrable temperament and his bullying… found him a difficult man with whom to work."^[2]

Family and ancestry

Harcourt was the second son of Rev. Canon

His probate was sworn in the year he died (when he was resident at Nuneham Park and at Malwood in Hampshire) then resworn, over £3000 upward, at ninepence short of £190,265 (equivalent to about £21,800,000 in 2021).^[6]

Education and early life

William's childhood was an austere one, educated at home by a Swiss

In 1894 he introduced and carried a memorable

During Harcourt's period as leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, the all-House enquiry into the failed Jameson Raid took place. Harcourt's performance in the enquiry disillusioned sections of the Liberal party, as the Opposition let the Conservative government off the hook by not exposing the involvement of the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain in the raid's genesis and preparation, Harcourt instead settling for censure of the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes.^[13][14]

In December 1898 the crisis arrived and, with Morley, Harcourt retired from the party and resigned his Leadership of the Opposition, alleging as his reason, in letters to Morley, the cross-currents of opinion among his old supporters and former colleagues. The split excited considerable comment, and resulted in much heart-searching and a more or less open division between the section of the Liberal party following Rosebery and those who disliked his imperialism.^[1]

Though now a private member, Harcourt still continued to assert his independent position, and his attacks on the government were no longer restrained by any deference to Liberal Imperialism. He actively intervened in 1899 and 1900, strongly condemning the government's financial policy and their attitude towards the

Harcourt was offered a peerage in 1902 but he declined it in order to stay in the House of Commons, and to allow his son to advance his political career.[15]

Marriages and children

On 5 November 1859, Harcourt married his first wife Maria Theresa Lister, known as Therese.^[

. They had two children:

• Julian Harcourt (6 October 1860 – 2 March 1862).
• Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt (31 January 1863 – 24 February 1922). Originally christened Reginald, but rechristened at the age of two months.^[16] Lewis Harcourt served as Private Secretary to his father and later became a prominent politician in his own right, most notably as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1910 to 1915.

His first wife died on 1 February 1863, only a day after giving birth to their second and last son. Harcourt remained a widower for thirteen years. On 2 December 1876, he married his second wife Elizabeth Cabot Motley.

patent lawyer and writer on scientific subjects. She had been previously married to naval officer Thomas Poynton Ives. Ives was among the casualties of the American Civil War

. By this second marriage, Harcourt had his third and final son:

• Robert Harcourt (born 7 May 1878). He married Marjorie Laura Cunard. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Harcourt married Ian Rochfort Johnston, a Commander of the Royal Navy.

Publications

• Letters by Historicus on some Questions of International Law: reprinted from 'The Times' with considerable additions. London and Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. 1863. Retrieved 3 July 2018 – via Internet Archive.
• American Neutrality by Historicus: Reprinted from the London "Times" of December 22nd, 1864. New York: New York. 1865. Retrieved 3 July 2018 – via Internet Archive.

Popular culture

• Harcourt was the subject of several parody novels based on
  Caroline Lewis's Clara in Blunderland (1902) and Lost in Blunderland (1903).,^[18][19]

See also

• Harcourt interpolation

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Chisholm 1911, pp. 939–940
2. ^ Roy Jenkins, "From Gladstone to Asquith: The Late Victorian Pattern of Liberal Leadership," History Today (July 1964) 14#7 pp 445-452 at page 446-447.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Stansky 2008
4. ^ Morrell 2004
5. ^ ^{a b} Fairclough 2009
6. ^ https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk Calendar of Probates and Administrations
7. ^ ACAD & HRCT846WG.
8. ^ Harcourt (1863, 1865)
9. ^ Simpson 1984, pp. 77, 89.
10. ^ Waugh 2002.
11. ^ Simpson 1984, p. 245.
12. ^ Fahey 2001.
13. ISBN 0-09-458950X
    .
14. ISBN 0300058012
    .
15. ^ "Sir W. Harcourt and the Peerage". The Times. No. 36805. London. 27 June 1902. p. 4.
16. ^ Jenkins 1998, p. 45.
17. ISBN 9780761171980
    . Retrieved 25 June 2021.
18. ^ Sigler 1997, pp. 340–347.
19. ^ Dickinson 1902.

References

• Dickinson, Evelyn (20 June 1902). "Literary Note and Books of the Month". United Australia. II (12).
• "Harcourt, William George Venables Vernon Granville Vernon (HRCT846WG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
• Fairclough, K R (2009). "Egerton, Francis, third duke of Bridgewater (1736–1803)".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8584. (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)
• Fahey, D. M. (2001). "The Politics of Drink in Britain: Anglo-American Perspectives: Presidential Address to the Ohio Academy of History, April 29, 2000". The Social History of Alcohol Review. Alcohol and Drugs History Society. Archived from the original on 9 February 2005. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
• Jenkins, Roy (1998). The Chancellors. Macmillan. p. 45.
• Morrell, Jack (2004). "Harcourt, William Venables Vernon (1789–1871)".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12249. (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)
• ISBN 978-0-226-75942-5
  .
• Sigler, Carolyn, ed. (1997). Alternative Alices: Visions and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" Books. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 340–347.
• Stansky, Peter (2008). "Harcourt, Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon (1827–1904)".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33693. (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)
• Waugh, Ian (2002), "The man they could not hang", Inside Out – South West, BBC, retrieved 17 February 2008

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Harcourt, Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). pp. 939–940.

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to William Harcourt (politician).

• Gardiner, A. G. (1923). The Life of Sir William Harcourt (2 vols ed.). London: Constable.
• Machin, I. "Biography of Sir William Harcourt". Liberal Democrat History Group. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Vernon Harcourt (politician).

• Lawlessness in the national church (1899)
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Vernon Harcourt
• Portraits of William Harcourt at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Sir William Vernon Harcourt (memorial tablet – inside church) at Find a Grave
• William Vernon Harcourt – churchyard at Find a Grave

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Neate Edward Cardwell	Member of Parliament for Oxford 1868–1880 With: Edward Cardwell 1868–1874 Alexander William Hall 1874–1880 Joseph William Chitty 1880	Succeeded by Alexander William Hall Joseph William Chitty
Preceded by Samuel Plimsoll Michael Thomas Bass	Member of Parliament for Derby 1880–1895 With: Michael Thomas Bass 1880–1883 Thomas Roe 1883–1895	Succeeded by Sir Henry Bemrose Geoffrey Drage
Preceded by Cornelius Warmington	Member of Parliament for West Monmouthshire 1895–1904	Succeeded by Thomas Richards
Legal offices
Preceded by Sir Henry James	Solicitor-General for England 1873–1874	Succeeded by Sir Richard Baggallay
Political offices
Preceded by Sir Richard Cross	Home Secretary 1880–1885	Succeeded by Sir Richard Cross
Preceded by Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1886	Succeeded by Lord Randolph Churchill
Preceded by George Goschen	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1892–1895	Succeeded by Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone	Leader of the House of Commons 1894–1895	Succeeded by Arthur Balfour
Preceded by The Earl of Rosebery	Leader of the Opposition 1896–1898	Succeeded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Party political offices
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone	Liberal Leader in the Commons 1894–1898	Succeeded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Preceded by The Earl of Rosebery	Leader of the British Liberal Party 1896–1898 with The Earl of Kimberley	Succeeded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman The Earl of Kimberley