William Harcourt (politician)
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Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt (14 October 1827 – 1 October 1904) was a British lawyer, journalist and Liberal statesman. He served as Member of Parliament for Oxford, Derby then West Monmouthshire and held the offices of Home Secretary and
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
under William Ewart Gladstone before becoming
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
. A talented speaker in parliament, he was sometimes regarded as aloof and possessing only an intellectual involvement in his causes. He failed to engender much emotional response in the public and became only a reluctant and disillusioned leader of his party. Historian
Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...
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."


Family and ancestry

Harcourt was the second son of Canon William Vernon Harcourt, a scientist and owner of
Nuneham Park Nuneham House is an eighteenth century villa in the Palladian architecture, Palladian style, set in parkland at Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire, England. It is currently owned by Oxford University and is used as a retreat centre by the Brahma Ku ...
,
Nuneham Courtenay Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford. It occupies a pronounced section of the left bank of the River Thames. Geography The parish is bounded to the west by the River Thames and on other sides by field bound ...
,
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
and his wife Matilda Mary, daughter of Colonel William Gooch. His father was the fourth son and eventually heir of Edward Harcourt, Archbishop of York and his wife Lady Anne Leveson-Gower. Anne was a daughter of
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, KG PC (4 August 172126 October 1803), known as Viscount Trentham from 1746 to 1754 and as The Earl Gower from 1754 to 1786, was a British politician from the Leveson-Gower family. Background ...
and kinswoman Lady Louisa Egerton. Her maternal grandparents included Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater and Rachel. Rachel was a daughter of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford and the rich heiress Elizabeth, daughter of John Howland of Streatham. William was, due to the family's appendage of a surname to recognise an inheritance, born a Vernon, and his position as a senior heir in the landed Vernon and
Harcourt Harcourt may refer to: People *Harcourt (surname) * Harcourt (given name) Places Canada *Harcourt Parish, New Brunswick * Harcourt, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community * Harcourt, Ontario, a village *Harcourt, Newfoundland and Labrad ...
was emphasised by his link to many of the greater English houses, a fact of which he was proud. In later life his descent from the Plantagenets was a joke among his political opponents. His
probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...
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 .


Education and early life

William's childhood was an austere one, educated at home by a Swiss
governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...
, he was sent to a private school at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, when he was eight. William's father denied him a
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
education, sending him to be educated in
classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
at the small class of Rev. John Owen Parr. In 1840, Parr moved to
Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...
and William witnessed the Preston bread riots there in 1842. He left Parr in 1844 and, after two more years' study at home, William entered Trinity College, Cambridge, to pursue his interest in mathematics. At Cambridge he became an Apostle, and graduated with first-class honours in the classics tripos in 1851, but he did not enjoy the mathematics, graduating only
senior optime At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the final year of the university's degree in mathematics. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Secon ...
. At Cambridge, William rejected his family's Tory instincts and began to write for the '' Morning Chronicle'' in support of Sir Robert Peel. William's father encouraged him to seek a Cambridge fellowship or a career in politics but William chose law and journalism. He entered
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in 1852 and was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
at the Inner Temple in 1854. He quickly made his mark as a speaker, his reception into London society being eased by his uncle
George Harcourt George Granville Harcourt (''né'' Venables-Harcourt and Vernon-Harcourt, 6 August 1785 – 19 December 1861) was a British Whig and then Conservative Party politician. Background Harcourt was the eldest son of clergyman Edward Venables- ...
and aunt Frances Waldegrave. From 1855 William started to write for the '' Saturday Review'', becoming increasingly a follower of William Ewart Gladstone and an opponent of Lord Palmerston. He practised in railway law, commentating, especially in '' The Times'' on international law. In 1862, he wrote some famous letters to ''The Times'' over the signature of "Historicus," supporting Britain's neutrality in the American Civil War and condemning the widespread public sympathy for the Confederate States. He also wrote on the
Trent Affair The ''Trent'' Affair was a International incident, diplomatic incident in 1861 during the American Civil War that threatened a war between the United States and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain. The United States Navy, ...
and the Alabama controversy. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1866, and was appointed Whewell professor of international law at the University of Cambridge in 1869.


Political career

Harcourt entered parliament as Liberal member for Oxford, and sat from 1868 to 1880, being appointed Solicitor General and
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in 1873. He was re-elected in the Liberal victory at the
1880 United Kingdom general election The 1880 United Kingdom general election was a general election in the United Kingdom held from 31 March to 27 April 1880. Its intense rhetoric was led by the Midlothian campaign of the Liberals, particularly the fierce oratory of Liberal leade ...
and, though he had not been a strong supporter of Gladstone in opposition, he was appointed Home Secretary. A mandatory re-election was then required on acceptance of such an office and Harcourt was defeated by
Alexander William Hall Alexander William Hall (20 June 1838 – 29 April 1919) was an English Conservative politician. Hall was the son of Henry Hall and his wife Catherine Louisa Hood, daughter of Lord Bridport. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford. In 1862 he ...
by just 54 votes. Though Hall was then unseated for political corruption, a seat was found for Harcourt at Derby, by the voluntary retirement of
Samuel Plimsoll Samuel Plimsoll (10 February 1824 – 3 June 1898) was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line (a line on a ship's hull indicating the maximum safe draught, and therefore the minimum fr ...
. He continued to co-represent Derby until 1895, when, having been defeated, he found a seat in West Monmouthshire. His name became connected with the passing of the
Ground Game Act 1880 The Ground Game Act 1880 ('' 43 & 44 Vict.'') is a law that was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1880 by Gladstone's government, as a result of many complaints over many decades about the intolerable amount of damage that farmers ...
and the Arms (Ireland) Act 1881. As Home Secretary at the time of the
Phoenix Park killings The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland and Burke was the Permanent ...
and the subsequent London bombings he reacted rapidly, and the Explosive Substances Act 1883 was passed through all its stages in the shortest time on record. His robust stand on law and order brought him into conflict with the Irish members. In 1884 he introduced an aborted bill for unifying the municipal administration of London. and led the demand for a prosecution in the
survival cannibalism Human cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings. A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. The meaning of "cannibalism" has been extended into zoology to describe an in ...
case of '' Dudley and Stephens'', but also advised the Queen to grant clemency, to six months' in prison. In 1885 he similarly saw commutation of
John 'Babbacombe' Lee John "Babbacombe" Lee (15 August 1864 – 19 March 1945) was an Englishman famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder. Born in Abbotskerswell, Devon, Lee served in the Royal Navy, and was a known thief. In 1885, he was c ...
's death penalty to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
after his execution failed three times. He was further the victim of the embarrassing stunts of the Harcourt interpolation and the Home Office Baby.


Chancellor of the Exchequer

He was recognised as one of the ablest and most effective leaders of the Liberal party and when, after a brief interval in 1885, Gladstone returned to office in 1886, Harcourt was made
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
, an office which he again filled from 1892 to 1895. Between 1880 and 1892 Harcourt acted as Gladstone's political deputy. A first-rate party fighter, his services were of huge value. However, in spite of his great success as a platform speaker, he was generally felt to be speaking from an "advocate's brief", and did not impress the public as a conviction politician. It was he who coined the phrase about "stewing in
Parnellite The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League h ...
juice", and, when the split came in the Liberal party on the Irish question, even those who gave Gladstone and John Morley the credit of being convinced Home Rulers could not be persuaded that Harcourt had followed anything but the line of party expediency. In 1894 he introduced and carried a memorable
budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...
, which equalised the
death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...
on real and
personal property property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...
. After Gladstone's retirement in 1894 and Lord Rosebery's selection as prime minister, Harcourt became the leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, but it was never probable that he would work comfortably in the new conditions. He had been ignored as Gladstone's successor, and it was evident that Rosebery's ideas of Liberalism and of the policy of the Liberal Party were not those of Harcourt. Their differences were patched up from time to time, but the combination was unstable. However the one significant legacy of the government was the introduction of a high uniform rate of death duties in Harcourt's 1894 budget. Harcourt himself was a second son, and thus unlikely to ever have to pay such duties himself, so it was often quipped that this introduction was a "second son's revenge". However, this proved to not be the case, when Harcourt inherited the Nuneham Park estate in Oxfordshire.


Leader of the Opposition

At the 1895 elections it was clear that there were divisions as to what issue the Liberals were fighting for. The effect of Harcourt's aborted Local Veto Bill, which would have given parishes the right to vote on the closure of all local public houses, on the election was seen not only in his defeat at Derby, which gave the signal for the Liberal rout, but in the set-back it gave to temperance legislation. Though returned for West Monmouthshire (1895, 1900), Harcourt's speeches in debate only occasionally showed his characteristic spirit, and it was evident that for the hard work of opposition he no longer had the same motivation as of old. In October 1896 Gladstone, in his last public speech, called for action to support the Armenians who were being massacred by their Ottoman rulers. Harcourt backed Gladstone but Rosebery used the incident as an excuse to resign as
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
and Harcourt became an unenthusiastic leader. 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 Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...
. 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 Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
. 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
Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...
. Throughout the Second Boer War he lost no opportunity of criticising the South African developments in a pessimistic vein. A great parliamentary debater, he sprinkled his speeches with humour. From 1898 to 1900 he was conspicuous, both on the platform and in letters to ''The Times'', in demanding active measures against Ritualism in the Church of England. However, his attitude in this was reflected in his political advocacy of
disestablishment The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...
. In March 1904, just after he had announced his intention not to seek election again to parliament, he succeeded, by the death of his nephew, to the family estates at Nuneham. He found that the estate was in crisis, especially after having to pay the death duties he himself had introduced, and he died suddenly there in the same year. 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.


Marriages and children

On 5 November 1859, Harcourt married his first wife Maria Theresa Lister, known as Therese. She was a daughter of novelist
Thomas Henry Lister Thomas Henry Lister (1800 – 5 June 1842) was an English novelist and biographer, and served as Registrar General in the British civil service. He was an early exponent of the silver fork novel as a genre and also presaged "futuristic" writing i ...
and Lady
Maria Theresa Villiers (Maria) Theresa Lewis (born Villiers, later Lister; 8 March 1803 – 9 November 1865) was a British writer and biographer. Early life Maria Theresa Villiers was born on 8 March 1803. She was the daughter of the Hon. George Villiers, a member of ...
. 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. 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 The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, British Cabinet government minister, minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various British Empire, colonial dependencies. Histor ...
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. Elizabeth was a daughter of American historian John Lothrop Motley and his wife Mary Benjamin. Her maternal uncle Park Benjamin was a 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 Sir Robert John Rolston Harcourt, JP (1902 – 25 August 1969) was a Northern Irish politician. Robert Harcourt, known as John, became the director of F. E. Harcourt and Company coal merchants. He was High Sheriff of Belfast in 1949, and later ...
(born 7 May 1878). He married Marjorie Laura Cunard. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Harcourt married Ian Rochfort Johnston, a
Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...
of the Royal Navy.


Publications

* *


Popular culture

* Harcourt was the subject of several parody novels based on
Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...
, such as Caroline Lewis's ''
Clara in Blunderland ''Clara in Blunderland'' is a novel by Caroline Lewis (a pseudonym for Edward Harold Begbie, J. Stafford Ransome, and Michael Henry Temple), written in 1902 and published by William Heinemann of London. It is a political parody of Lewis Carro ...
'' (1902) and '' Lost in Blunderland'' (1903).,


See also

* Harcourt interpolation


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * Attribution *


Further reading

* *


External links


Lawlessness in the national church
(1899) * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt, William 1827 births 1904 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom Leaders of the Liberal Party (UK) British Secretaries of State Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Presidents of the Cambridge Union Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 William Solicitors General for England and Wales Leaders of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Fellows of the Royal Society Whewell Professors of International Law British legal scholars English King's Counsel Members of the Inner Temple Knights Bachelor Politicians from York