View source for Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt

{{Short description|British politician (1863–1922)}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] 
| name = The Viscount Harcourt 
| honorific-suffix = [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|PC]]
| image = Lewis Harcourt MP.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = Lewis Harcourt MP
| order1 = [[First Commissioner of Works]]
| term_start1 = 10 December 1905 
| term_end1 = 3 November 1910
| monarch1 = [[Edward VII]]<br/> [[George V]] 
| primeminister1 = [[Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman]]<br/>[[H. H. Asquith]]
| predecessor1 = [[Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth|The Lord Windsor]]
| successor1 = [[William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp|The Earl Beauchamp]]
| term_start2 = 25 May 1915 
| term_end2 = 10 December 1916
| monarch2 = [[George V]]
| primeminister2 = [[H. H. Asquith]]
| predecessor2 = [[Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott|The Lord Emmott]]
| successor2 = [[Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett|Sir Alfred Mond, Bt]]
| order3 = [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]
| term_start3 = 3 November 1910 
| term_end3 = 25 May 1915
| monarch3 = [[George V]]
| primeminister3 = [[H. H. Asquith]]
| predecessor3 = [[The Earl of Crewe]]
| successor3 = [[Bonar Law]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1863|1|31|df=y}} 
| birth_place = [[Nuneham Courtenay]], Oxfordshire 
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1922|2|24|1863|1|31|df=y}} 
| death_place = [[Brook Street]], London 
| party = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]  
| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Ethel Burns|1899}}
| children= 4, including [[Doris Harcourt]] and [[William Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt|William Harcourt]]}}

'''Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|PC}} (born '''Reginald Vernon Harcourt'''; 31 January 1863 – 24 February 1922), was a [[British people|British]] [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] politician who held the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] post of [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] from 1910 to 1915. Lord Harcourt's nickname was "Loulou".

==Early life and education==
Harcourt was born at [[Nuneham Courtenay]], [[Oxfordshire]], the only surviving son of politician [[Sir William Vernon Harcourt]] and his first wife, Maria Theresa Lister. He was originally christened with the name Reginald, in honour of his father's university friend [[Reginald Cholmondeley]], but when [[George Cornewall Lewis]] died just over two months after, he was rechristened with the name Lewis.<ref>[[Roy Jenkins]], "The Chancellors", Macmillan, 1998, p. 45.</ref> He was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]]. He studied [[Doctor of Civil Law]] at [[University of Oxford]].{{ sfn | Hesilrige | 1921 | page=443 }}

He inherited the [[Lord of the manor|lordships of the manors]] of [[Stanton Harcourt]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Stanton Harcourt: Manors and other estates Pages 274–281 A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12, Wootton Hundred (South) Including Woodstock. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol12/pp274-281 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 1990 |access-date=15 January 2023}}</ref> Nuneham Courtenay, [[North Hinksey]], [[Cogges Manor Farm|Cogges]], [[Northmoor, Oxfordshire|Northmoor]] and [[Shifford]] in Oxfordshire.<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title=Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|title-link=Burke's Peerage |publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor-first=Mosley |editor-last=Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year=2003 |page=3997 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref>

==Political career==
Harcourt was private secretary to his father, Sir William, as [[Home Secretary]] from 1880 to 1885; and again when he was [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] in 1886, and 1892–95.{{ sfn | Hesilrige | 1921 | page=443 }} He was [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] Member of Parliament for [[Rossendale (UK Parliament constituency)|Rossendale]], Lancashire, from 1904 to 1916 and served as [[First Commissioner of Works]] in [[Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman]]'s 1905 ministry (appointed to Cabinet in 1907) and to [[H. H. Asquith]]'s Cabinet between 1908 and 1910 and again between 1915 and 1916. In this role he authorised the placement in [[Kensington Gardens]] of the [[Peter Pan statue]], sculpted by [[George Frampton]], erected on 1 May 1912, and the plans for the rebuilding of [[Piccadilly Circus]] in 1915 (eventually executed in 1923).<ref>{{cite web |title=The rebuilding of Piccadilly Circus and the Regent Street Quadrant Pages 85–100 Survey of London: Volumes 31 and 32, St James Westminster, Part 2 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols31-2/pt2/pp85-100 |website=British History Online |publisher=LCC 1963 |access-date=15 January 2023}}</ref>

Between 1910 and 1915, he was [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] under Asquith. In 1911 his home in [[Berkeley Square]] had windows smashed by [[suffragette]]s, including [[Ada Wright]] who were imprisoned for two weeks.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Rise up, women!: the remarkable lives of the suffragettes |last=Atkinson |first=Diane |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2018 |isbn=9781408844045 |location=London |pages=275 |oclc=1016848621}}</ref> Harcourt was raised to the peerage as '''''Viscount Harcourt''', of Stanton Harcourt in the County of Oxford'', in 1917.<ref name="burke" />

During the debate over Chancellor [[David Lloyd George]]'s proposed "[[People's Budget]]" Harcourt was amongst its foremost critics, with Malcolm Thomson, Lloyd George's official biographer, writing that he was "the most inveterate in obstructing his proposals, while posing all the time as an ardent Radical".<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Malcolm|title=David Lloyd George: The Official Biography |publisher=Hutchinson |location=London |year=1948 |page=183|chapter=The People's Budget}}</ref>

==Public appointments and other interests==
Harcourt acted as a Trustee of the [[British Museum]], [[Wallace Collection]], the [[London Museum (1912–1976)|London Museum]], and the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]], which has a portrait of him.<ref name="burke"/><ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=Death of Lord Harcourt. |work=[[The Times]] |page= 14 |date=25 February 1922 }}</ref>

Harcourt was interested in natural history and sought to protect birds, fish and other creatures from extinction. He received an [[Honorary doctorate|Honorary DCL]] from [[Oxford University]] and was also an honorary fellow of the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]].<ref name="obit"/>

==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, that "in the absence of any convenient local name, I would respectfully ask your permission to call this Port Harcourt". The Secretary of State replied, "It gives me pleasure to accede to your suggestion that my name should be associated with the new Port".<ref name="RoyalAfrican">{{Cite journal|title=The Port Harcourt Issue: A Note on Dr Tamuno's Article|first=S.O.|last=Okafor|volume=72|issue=286|journal=African Affairs|page=74|series=Royal African Society|date=January 1973|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a096323}}</ref>

==Queen Victoria==
Harcourt's diaries contain a report that one of [[Queen Victoria]]'s [[chaplain]]s, [[Revd]] Norman Macleod, made a deathbed confession repenting of his action in presiding over Queen Victoria's marriage to her servant, [[John Brown (servant)|John Brown]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1655_283/ai_112095011 |title=Queen Victoria's 'secret marriage' |first=Raymond |last=Lamont-Brown |publisher=Contemporary Review |date=December 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426090625/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1655_283/ai_112095011/ |archive-date=26 April 2009 }}</ref>

==Marriage and children==
[[File:Mary Ethel Burns, Viscountess Harcourt.jpg|thumb|Mary Ethel Harcourt, circa 1911]]
[[File:Lewis Harcourt.JPG|thumb|right|Lord Harcourt by [[Harry Furniss]]]]
[[Image:Harcourt arms.svg|thumb|150px|[[House of Harcourt|Harcourt]] [[coat of arms]]: ''[[Gules]], two [[Fess]]es [[or (heraldry)|Or]]'']]
On 1 July 1899, Harcourt married [[Mary Ethel Burns]], daughter of American banker Walter Hayes Burns and his wife, Mary Lyman (''née'' Morgan), a sister of [[J. P. Morgan]]. Through her, the family acquired the famous "Harcourt emeralds".<ref>{{cite web|title=Magnificent antique emerald and diamond tiara|url=http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4524290|publisher=Christies}}</ref>

Mary, Viscountess Harcourt, was appointed a [[Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)|Lady of Grace of the Order of St John]] and then [[Order of the British Empire|Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE)]] in 1918; she died 7 January 1961.<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Dowager Viscountess Harcourt |work=[[The Times]] |page=17 |date=9 January 1961}}</ref>

Lord and Lady Harcourt had four children:
* [[Hon.]] [[Doris Mary Thérèse Harcourt]] (30 March 1900 – 9 May 1981); married [[Alexander Baring, 6th Baron Ashburton]]: their elder son [[John Baring, 7th Baron Ashburton|John]] succeeded as 7th [[Baron Ashburton]].
* Hon. Olivia Vernon Harcourt {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DCVO}} (5 April 1902 – 2 August 1984); married The Hon. (Godfrey) John Mulholland, younger son of [[Henry Mulholland, 2nd Baron Dunleath|2nd Baron Dunleath]] (d. 1948); with 1 son and 2 daughters. She served as [[Woman of the Bedchamber]] to HM [[Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother]] 1951–1961.<ref>"The Hon Mrs J. Mulholland", ''The Times'', 4 August 1984, p. 8.</ref>
* Hon. Barbara Vernon Harcourt {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (28 April 1905 – 19 May 1961); married Robert Jenkinson (1900–1970), a great-great grandson of Col. John Jenkinson, brother of the [[Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool|1st Earl of Liverpool]], in 1927 (later divorced); with 1 son and 2 daughters. She remarried, in 1937, William James Baird (9 November 1893 – 2 February 1961). She died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound a few months after her husband's death.<ref>{{cite news |title=Probate of a Will: In the Estate of Barbara Vernon Baird, Deceased |work=[[The Times]] |page= 17|date=8 September 1961 }}</ref>
* [[William Edward Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCMG|OBE}} (5 October 1908 – 3 January 1979), succeeded as Viscount Harcourt at age 13.

==Sexual misconduct==

Harcourt was known in [[Social class in the United Kingdom#Upper class|London society]] as a sexual predator of the young of both genders. He attempted to sexually assault [[Dorothy Brett]], the daughter of [[Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher|Viscount Esher]] (allegedly a fellow [[paedophile]]), when she was about 15.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Parris |first1=Matthew |title=Scandals in the House |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/scandals-in-the-house-1579987.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/scandals-in-the-house-1579987.html |archive-date=14 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=Independent|date=22 October 2011 }}</ref> 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".<ref>Hignett, Sean. ''Brett: From Bloomsbury to New Mexico – A Biography'', London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1984 Pages 30–31 {{ISBN|0-340-22973-X}}</ref>

==Death==
Harcourt died in his sleep at his London townhouse at [[Brook Street|69 Brook Street]] (now the [[Savile Club]]) in the early hours of 24 February 1922, aged 59.<ref name="obit" /> He had taken an overdose of a sleeping draught, and there were rumours of suicide following accusations of sexual impropriety by [[Edward James]], a young Etonian who later became an important collector of surrealist and other contemporary art. [[Mrs Willie James|James's mother]] spread the story in society, although the accusations remained unknown by the wider public for fifty years.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|id=33692|last1=Jackson|first1=Patrick|date=25 May 2006|title=Harcourt, Lewis Vernon, first Viscount Harcourt (1863–1922), politician|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33692/version/1?mediaType=Article|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref>  An inquest was held as to the cause of death, which returned a verdict of [[death by misadventure]]; the underlying cause being given as heart failure and sudden oedema of the lungs brought on by a dose of [[Potassium bromide|Bromidia]], which he had been prescribed as a sleep aid. According to the coroner, who found extensive heart disease, the amount of Bromidia he had taken would not have caused death in a healthy person. According to his valet, there was only a very small amount of Bromidia left in the bottle the prior evening, which Harcourt did not take regularly.<ref name="death">{{cite news |title= Lord Harcourt's Death. Coroner's verdict of misadventure. Bromidia and heart disease.|work=[[The Times]] |page= 6|date=1 March 1922 }}</ref>

His physician, Dr Lindsay Scott, had last seen him on 30 January and testified that Harcourt was not in very good health, being weak and with an irregular heartbeat. He said that he did not expect him to die suddenly, but admitted, "I did not think he would live many years." The coroner dismissed the notion of suicide as "grotesque" given the evidence.<ref name="death"/> Patrick Jackson, Harcourt's biographer in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', also noted that suicide seemed unlikely given that Harcourt was in the midst of finishing a biography on his father, Sir William, which he had commissioned from [[Alfred George Gardiner]]. Harcourt had spent the evening prior to his death editing a recent draft and had an appointment with Gardiner the following day to discuss the project. Jackson writes, "It seems hard to believe that Harcourt would not have wished to see through to completion an enterprise over which he had exercised tight control, and which recalled for him the glorious days of political partnership with his father."<ref name="odnb"/>

A memorial service for Lord Harcourt was held on 1 March at [[St Margaret's, Westminster]], with Prebendary of Westminster [[William Carnegie (priest)|William Carnegie]] officiating with the Very Rev. [[Albert Baillie]], [[Dean of Windsor]]. Lord Harcourt was buried after a large, well-attended funeral service the same day at the parish church at Nuneham Courtney, conducted by [[Bishop of Oxford]] [[Hubert Burge]], [[Bishop of Birmingham]] [[Henry Wakefield (bishop of Birmingham)|Henry Wakefield]], and the rector Rev. Hildebrand Thomas Giles Alington. He was buried in the family vault in the churchyard.<ref>{{cite news |title=Memorial services. Viscount Harcourt. |work=[[The Times]] |page= 15 |date=2 March 1922 }}</ref>

==See also ==
* [[House of Harcourt]]

==Sources==
*{{cite book |title=The Dictionary of National Biography (Ninth Supplement), 1971–1980 |first1=Robert |last1=Blake |first2=Christine Stephanie |last2=Nicholls |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1986 |isbn=9780198652083 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati1971unse }}
*{{cite book |title=Loulou: selected extracts from the journals of Lewis Harcourt (1880–1895) |author=Viscount Lewis Harcourt |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780838641033 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/loulouselectedex00harc }}
* [[Michael Bloch|Bloch, Michael.]] ''Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians'' (Little, Brown, 2015) {{ISBN|1408704129}} ''Chapter 1: Archie, Regie, Loulou and Bill''

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

===Book source===
*{{cite book | last=Hesilrige | first=Arthur G. M. | date=1921 | title=Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy | url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/443 | location=London | publisher=[[Dean & Son]] | page=443 }}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{commons category|Lewis Vernon Harcourt}}
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-lewis-harcourt|Lewis Vernon Harcourt}}
* {{npg name|id=02026|name=Lewis Vernon Harcourt}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
 | title  = Member of Parliament for [[Rossendale (UK Parliament constituency)|Rossendale]]
 | years  = [[1904 Rossendale by-election|1904]] – [[1917 Rossendale by-election|1917]]
 | before = [[Sir William Mather]]
 | after  = [[John Henry Maden|Sir John Henry Maden]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box  | title  = [[First Commissioner of Works]]  | years  = 1905–1910  | before = [[Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth|The Lord Windsor]]  | after  = [[William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp|The Earl Beauchamp]]}}
{{succession box  | title  = [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]  | years  = 1910–1915  | before = [[The Earl of Crewe]]  | after  = [[Bonar Law]]}}
{{succession box  | title  = [[First Commissioner of Works]]  | years  = 1915–1916  | before = [[Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott|The Lord Emmott]]  | after  = [[Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett|Sir Alfred Mond, Bt]]}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new | creation}}
{{s-ttl
 | title=[[Viscount Harcourt]]
 | years= 1917–1922
}}
{{s-aft | after=[[William Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt|William Harcourt]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt, Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies|Harcourt, Lewis]]
[[Category:19th-century English LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:LGBTQ peers]]
[[Category:English bisexual politicians]]
[[Category:British bisexual men]]
[[Category:History of Port Harcourt]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1900–1906|Harcourt, Lewis]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1906–1910|Harcourt, Lewis]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910|Harcourt, Lewis]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910–1918|Harcourt, Lewis]]
[[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages|Harcourt, Lewis]]
[[Category:Knights of Malta]]
[[Category:House of Harcourt|Lewis]]
[[Category:Bisexual male politicians]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for the colonies]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Viscounts created by George V]]