William Harcourt (politician) William Harcourt (politician) Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt, KC (14 October 1827 – 1 October 1904) was a British lawyer, journalist and Liberal statesman. He served as Member of Parliament for various constituencies and held the offices of Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer under William Ewart Gladstone before becoming Leader of the Opposition. 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. Harcourt was
Octavius Vernon Harcourt church of Masham. In 1858 he erected in Masham six almshouses which he endowed with £1,775 three per cent Consols. Harcourt's racehorse Ellington won The Derby in 1856. He married, on 22 February 1838, Anne Holwell, second daughter of William Gater, and widow of William Danby of Swinton Park. She died on 26 June 1879, devising her Yorkshire estates to George, fifth son of Sir Robert Affleck, Bt. He died at Swinton Park, Yorkshire, on 14 August 1863. Octavius Vernon Harcourt Octavius Henry Cyril Vernon Harcourt (25 December 1793 - 14 August 1863) was a British naval officer. He was