Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt
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Lewis Vernon Venables Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt (31 January 1863 - 24 February 1922) was a British politician who held the Cabinet office of Secretary of State for the Colonies during 1910-1915.
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[edit] Family
Lewis Harcourt was born in Nuneham Courtenay, Oxon, and was educated at Eton. He never knew his mother, Thérèse Lister, who died in 1863. He was her only child. His father Sir William Harcourt was Home Secretary 1880-5, at which time Lewis acted as his Private Secretary. Lewis's great-grandfather was Edward Harcourt, Archbishop of York.
He married on 1 July 1899 Mary Ethel Burns, daughter of Walter Hayes Burns, of New York and North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire. They had a son, William, in 1908. Harcourt was nicknamed 'Loulou'.
[edit] Career
He was Liberal MP for Rossendale, Lancashire, 1904-1916.
He was First Commissioner of Works in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's 1905 ministry (included in the cabinet in 1907) and in Asquith's cabinet 1908-10 and again 1915-16. In this role he authorised the placement in Kensington Gardens of the Peter Pan statue, sculpted by George Frampton, erected on May 1, 1912. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies 1910-15.
He acted as a trustee for the British Museum, Wallace Collection, the London Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery, which now contains his portrait.
Harcourt received an honorary DCL degree from Oxford University, and was created the first Viscount Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxon, on 3 January 1917.
[edit] Private life
Harcourt was an uncontrollable sexual predator attracted to both sexes. He tried to rape Dorothy Brett, the daughter of Viscount Esher, and followed this by an attempt to seduce his son. Dorothy Brett wrote of him that "it is so tiresome that Loulou is such an old roué. He is as bad with boys as with girls .. he is simply a sex maniac. It isn't that he is in love. It is just ungovernable Sex desire for both sexes." His behaviour was known and tolerated in private, but when he attempted to seduce one 12-year-old boy, the boy's mother began to 'tell the whole of society'. Harcourt could not tolerate the impending disgrace and he committed suicide at his London home in Brook Street.
[edit] Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state in southern Nigeria, is named after him. When the port was established in 1912, there was much controversy about the name it should receive. In August 1913, the Governor–General of Nigeria, Sir Frederick Lugard wrote to Harcourt, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, "in the absence of any convenient local name, I would respectfully ask your permission to call this Port Harcourt." To this the Secretary of State replied, "It gives me pleasure to accede to your suggestion that my name should be associated with the new Port."
[edit] Queen Victoria
Harcourt's diaries contain a report that one of Queen Victoria's chaplains, Rev'd Norman Macleod, made a deathbed confession repenting of his action in presiding over Queen Victoria's marriage to her servant, John Brown. Little credence is given to this report, in view of the many years which would have passed from the time of the "marriage" until Harcourt recorded it. See John Brown (servant) for a fuller discussion.
| Preceded by: The Lord Windsor |
First Commissioner of Works 1905–1910 |
Followed by: The Earl Beauchamp |
| Preceded by: The Earl of Crewe |
Secretary of State for the Colonies 1910–1915 |
Followed by: Andrew Bonar Law |
| Preceded by: The Lord Emmott |
First Commissioner of Works 1915–1916 |
Followed by: The Lord Melchett |
| Preceded by: New Creation |
Viscount Harcourt | Followed by: William Harcourt |
[edit] References
Dictionary of national biography 1971-1980, Oxford University Pres, 1986
