William Edward Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt (5 October 1908 – 3 January 1979) was an English aristocrat and businessman. Harcourt was a member of the distinguished Harcourt family, who descended from the ancient

House of Harcourt The House of Harcourt is a Norman family, and named after its seigneurie of Harcourt in Normandy. Its mottos were "Gesta verbis praeveniant" (Olonde branch), "Gesta verbis praevenient" (Beuvron branch), and "Le bon temps viendra ... de Franc ...

in Normandy.

Early life

Harcourt was born in London, the fourth and final child but only son born to

Lewis Harcourt Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt (born Reginald Vernon Harcourt; 31 January 1863 – 24 February 1922), was a British Liberal Party politician who held the Cabinet post of Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1910 to 1915. Lord ...

(1863–1922) and Mary Ethel Burns (1874–1961), an American heiress who in 1918 was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Doris Harcourt, a socialite and member of the ''

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in London during the Roaring Twenties. The name was given to them by the tabloid press. They threw flamboyant fancy dress part ...

'', was his eldest sister. He was a grandson of Sir William Harcourt (1827–1904), the

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 the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

. He was christened 9 November at

St Mary Undercroft The Chapel of St Mary Undercroft is a Church of England chapel located in the Palace of Westminster, London, England. The chapel is accessed via a flight of stairs in the south east corner of Westminster Hall. It had been a crypt below St Steph ...

at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. He was named after King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

, his godfather, who stood sponsor by proxy. His mother was a niece of banker J. Pierpont Morgan and a first cousin of J.P. Morgan Jr. The noble titles Earl Harcourt,

Viscount Harcourt Viscount Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt in the County of Oxford, was a noble title, title created twice for members of the Harcourt family, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created i ...

and Baron Harcourt had previously been in the family until the male line of that branch failed in 1830. In 1917, the title of Viscount Harcourt was revived in favour of his father, along with the subsidiary title of Baron Nuneham. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and was still a schoolboy there when he inherited the viscountcy in 1922. He then attended

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

Career

After Oxford, Harcourt spent most of his life in London. In 1931, he served as managing director of Morgan, Grenfell & Co. and was later chairman, 1968–73. He was also chairman of the Legal and General Assurance Society from 1958 to 1977. Domestically, he served on several committees, including the Radcliffe Committee on Monetary and Credit Policy, 1957–59 and the Plowden Committee on Overseas Representational Services, 1962–64. Internationally, Harcourt served as head of the British Treasury delegation at the British embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1954–57, and as executive director of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

and of the

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an international financial institution, established in 1944 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States; it is the lending arm of World Bank Group. The IBRD offers lo ...

. Harcourt was heavily involved with the

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

. From 1965 to his death, he was chairman of the governors of the museum. Since 1958, he was chairman of the Oxford Preservation Trust and from 1975 on, he was chairman of the Trustees of the

Rhodes House Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is Listed building#En ...

Military and honours

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Harcourt served with the

Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH) was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army's auxiliary forces, formed in 1798. It saw service in the Second Boer War with 40 and 59 Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry and was the first Yeomanry ...

, the 63rd (Oxford Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery. He was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE), Military Division, in February 1943. He was appointed to an Officer in the same order (OBE) in the

1945 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1945, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 14 June 1945 for the United Kingdom and British Empire.United Kingdom and British Empire: The recipients of the Birthday Honours are displa ...

. In 1952, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire, and from 1963 to his death, he was served as Vice-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire. While living in Washington, D.C., Harcourt was knighted in the

1957 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1957 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...

as a Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

Personal life

Harcourt was twice married; firstly, he was married in 1931 to Hon. Maud Elizabeth Grosvenor (1909-2000), a daughter of Francis Egerton Grosvenor, 4th Baron Ebury and Mary Adela (née Glasson). They had three daughters before the marriage was dissolved in 1942: * Hon. Elizabeth Ann Harcourt (1932–2020), who married Crispin Gascoigne, son of Maj.-Gen. Sir Julian Alvery Gascoigne. * Hon. Penelope Mary Harcourt (1933–2023), who married Maj. Anthony David Motion, son of Maj. Malcolm Davie Motion. * Hon. Virginia Vernon Harcourt (b. 1937), who married Julian Francis Wells, son of Dr. Arthur Quinton Wells, former

High Sheriff of Oxfordshire The High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

. In 1946, Harcourt married Elizabeth Sonia Gibbs, daughter of Sir Harold Snagge and widow of Capt. Lionel Gibbs. She died in 1959. He died in Chelsea, London, aged 70, at which point the Harcourt Viscountcy again became extinct. The manor house and the remainder of the estate of

Stanton Harcourt Stanton Harcourt is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and about west of Oxford. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Sutton, north of the village. The United Kingdom C ...

passed to his eldest daughter Elizabeth.

References

External links

William Edward Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt (1908-1979), Businessman
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt, William, 2nd Viscount 1908 births 1979 deaths Royal Artillery officers Military personnel from London British Army personnel of World War II Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars officers People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Officers of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Deputy lieutenants of Oxfordshire William, Viscount English people of American descent