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
Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt after, he was rechristened with the name Lewis. He never knew his mother, who died only a day after giving birth to him. His elder brother, Julian Harcourt, had died the previous year. He was educated at Eton. He inherited the lordships of the manor of Stanton Harcourt, Nuneham Courtenay, North Hinksey, Coggs, Northmoor and Shifford in Oxfordshire. Harcourt was private secretary to his father, Sir William, as Home Secretary from 1880 to 1885. He was Liberal Member of Parliament for Rossendale, Lancashire, from 1904 to 1916 and served as First Commissioner of Works in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's 1905 ministry