Description
Sir William Harcourt was a major figure in the Liberal politics of late Victorian Britain. Supported, as private secretary and inseparable companion, by his son Lewis, Harcourt served in all four of Gladstone's governments. He was home secretary from 1880-1885, and chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886, and again from 1892-1895. When Gladstone retired in 1894 Harcourt, who had served as deputy leader in the House of Commons, expected to succeed him as prime minister, but the queen preferred the much younger Lord Rosebery and most of Harcourt's colleagues, alienated by an overbearing manner, were unwilling to press his claims. Harcourt continued to serve as chancellor of the Exchequer under Rosebery, and his 1894 budget contained a comprehensive new system of graduated death duties whereby for the first time land was taxed on the same basis as personal property. Illustrated. Retired from British government service, Jackson's biographies specialize in Victorian parliamentary politics.
