HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM GEORGE GRAN VILLE VENABLES VERNON (1827-1904), English states man, was the second son of Canon William Vernon, who took the name of Harcourt on the succession of his father Edward, Arch bishop of York to the Harcourt estates in 183o. Canon Harcourt is separately noticed. William was born at the Old Residence, York, on Oct. 14, 1827. He was educated privately at Dumford, near Salisbury, and at Preston, where he witnessed the bread riots of 1842. From his tutor at Preston he went up to Trinity college, Cambridge, graduating with a first in classics and a senior optime in the mathematical tripos. He was a member of the famous Society of the Apostles at Cambridge, and among his close friends were Fitzjames Stephen and Julian Fane. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1854, became a Q.C. in 1866, and was appointed Whewell professor of international law, Cambridge, 1869. He quickly made his mark in London society as a brilliant talker; he wrote for The Morning Chronicle and Saturday Review, and began in 1862 to write letters to The Times over the signature of "Historicus" on questions of international law arising out of the American Civil War. The earlier letters were directed against the recognition of the Southern States as belligerents in the American Civil War and towards defining the duties of neutrality on the part of England. These letters had a profound effect on public opinion. He maintained that the launch ing of the "Alabama" was an illegal act, and throughout the period was in close touch with Lord John Russell and Lord Clarendon.
He entered parliament as Liberal member for Oxford, and sat from 1868 to 188o, when, upon seeking re-election after acceptance of office, he was defeated by Hall. A seat was, however, found for him at Derby, by the voluntary retirement of Plimsoll, and he continued to represent that constituency until 1895, when, having been defeated at the general election, he found a seat in West Monmouthshire. He was appointed solicitor-general and knighted in 1873 ; and, although he had not shown himself a very strenuous supporter of Gladstone during that statesman's ex clusion from power, he became secretary of state for the home department on the return of the Liberals to office in 1880. His name was connected at that time with the passing of the Ground Game Act (188o), the Arms (Ireland) Act (1881), and the Ex plosives Act (1883). As home secretary at the time of the dynamite outrages he acted promptly, and the Explosives Act was passed through all its stages in the shortest time on record. He was constantly in conflict with the Irish members in the House of Commons. In 1884 he introduced an abortive bill for unifying the municipal administration of London. He was indeed at that time recognized 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, he was made chancellor of the exchequer. The government fell on the Home Rule queston in July. In Jan. 1887 Harcourt, who had been a close ally of Joseph Chamberlain before the split in the Liberal party over Home Rule, now made an effort to secure reunion, and the Round Table Con ference of Herschell, Harcourt, Morley, Chamberlain and Trevel yan met at his house. It failed disastrously.
Between 188o and 1892 Harcourt acted as Gladstone's loyal and indefatigable lieutenant in political life. In 1892 he became chancellor of the exchequer for the second time. In 1894 he introduced and carried a memorable budget, which equalized the death duties on real and personal property and put the budget on a basis which enabled it to stand the strain of the South African War. After Gladstone's retirement in 1894 and Lord Rosebery's selection as prime minister, Sir William 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. His title to be regarded as Gladstone's successor had been too lightly ignored, and from the first it was evident that Lord Rosebery's ideas of Liberalism and of the policy of the Liberal party were not those of Harcourt. Their acute differences were patched up from time to time, but the combination could not last. At the general election of 1895 the divisions in the party were obvious. The effect of Harcourt's abortive Local Veto Bill on the election was seen in his defeat at Derby, which gave the signal for the Liberal rout. In Dec. 1898 the crisis arrived, and he resigned his leadership of the opposition, alleging as his reason, in letters exchanged between John Morley and himself, the cross-currents of opinion among his old supporters and former colleagues.
Harcourt strongly condemned the government's financial policy and their attitude towards the Transvaal in 1899-190o; and was a constant critic of Chamberlain's policy. At this time he engaged in a violent controversy, conducted in letters to The Times, against ritualism in the Church of England. His last great political effort was against Chamberlain's tariff reform proposals. 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. But he died suddenly there on Oct. 1 in the same year. He married, first, in 1859, Therese Lister (d. 1863), a niece of the 4th Lord Clarendon (q.v.), by whom he had one son, Lewis Vernon Harcourt (q.v.) ; and secondly, in 1876, Elizabeth, widow of T. Ives and daughter of J. L. Motley, the historian, by whom he had another son, Robert (b. 1878). Lady Harcourt survived until 1928.
Sir William Harcourt was one of the great parliamentary figures of the Gladstonian Liberal period. He was essentially an aris tocratic type of the late 19th century Whig, with a remarkable capacity for popular campaign fighting. He had been, and re mained, a brilliant journalist in the non-professional sense. He was one of those who really made the Saturday Review in its palmy days, and the "Historicus" letters on international law published in The Times showed him to be a great international lawyer. In later years he found himself somewhat isolated and disappointed. A tall, fine man, with the grand manner, he was, throughout a long career, a great personality in the life of his time.