SIR W. V. HARCOURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 230, 3 October 1904, Page 3

SIR W. V. HARCOURT.

DEATH OF THE VETERAN STATESMAN.

SKETCH OF HIS CAREER

(Received Oct. 3, .1.2 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 2. Sir William Vernon Harcourt died suddenly at Nunelmm Park.

Right Hon. Sir William V. Ilarcourt (L.) was elected for Monmouthshire, West, In 1895. He sat for Oxford City from 1808 till 1880, and for Derby from 1885 till 1805. He was a son o'i the late Re«.' W. V. Harcourt, of Nuneham Park,. Oxford, and a grandson of a former Archbishop of York. The hon. gentleman was born in 1827. In the Trinity College examination, at Cambridge lie took lirst class honours in Classical Tripos, and Senior Optime, in 1851. Ho wu.s-n.ude an Hon. Fellow in 1902, and was called to the liar, Inner Temple, in 1854. He was appointed Q.C. in 1886. Appointed Who well Professor of international Law, Cambridge, 1869. He was married in 1859 to a

daughter of Theresa Lewis, by whom he had a son, Lewis (born 1803), and in 1876 Ids second wiie, Airs Ives, daughter of the late Mr J. L. Motley, the historian, by whom he had a son, Robert (born 1.878). Sir

W. Harcouiit entered Parliament as Liberal member for Oxford (18681880). On seeking re-election after his acceptance of oilice in Mr Gladstone's Administration he was defeated by Mr Hall, who was' subsequently unseated on petition. Meantime, by the voluntary retirement of Mr Plimsull, a seat was found for Sir William Harcourt at Derby, for which constituency he sat till he was defeated at the general election in 1895, when he Was elected for West Monmouthshire. He has held the following oflices : Solicitor-Gen-eral 1873-1874 • Secretary of State for the Home Department, 18801885 ; Chancellor of thu Exchequer 1886 and 1892-1895. His 1891 Budget, which considerably exleudo.l the application of the principle of graduation to the Income Tax n nd reformed the Death Duties, is claimed by bis friends as his greatest achievement;. His leadership of his party in the 1896 session was acknowledged by friend and foe to have been masterly. lie took a prominent past in the proceedings ol the British South Afnica Committee during 1897 ; ami in 181.8, 1599, and 1900 in « series of weighty letters to the Times, he attacked the RomaiiTOing moveimnl in the Church of England. He retired from the Leadership of the Liberal Opposition in the Commons during the Recess in 1898, but actively .intervened in 1899, 1900, and 1901, strongly condemning the Government's policy as to the Sinking Fund, the conduct of the negotiations with the Transvaal, and the method of raising the funds to cany on the war. His Majesty offerer) him a peerage in 1902, but the right hon,. gentleman, with the consent of his son, gratefully declined the honour. He took an active share in opposing the Education Act. Under the nom de plume of " Historicus " lie wrote to the Times tho well-known letters on International Law. He was one of the most clever of parliamentary debaters and platform speakers. He was a P.C and L.L.D,