William Harcourt (politician) Attribution 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
Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, and they had sixteen children. His wife predeceased him at Bishopthorpe Palace on 16 November 1832, aged 72. His second son, the Revd Leveson Vernon Harcourt, was chancellor of York, an author of "The Doctrine of the Deluge" and of other theological works. His fourth son was William Vernon Harcourt, the founder of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Two of his sons became Admirals and his youngest daughter, Georgiana, distinguished herself as a translator. The children included: As a director of the Ancient Concerts, Harcourt entertained his fellow-directors (the prince regent and