Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt
Encyclopedia
Stanton Harcourt
Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and west of Oxford.-Archaeology:Within the parish of Stanton Harcourt is a series of paleochannel deposits buried beneath the second gravel terrace of the river Thames...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, PC (December 1661 – 23 July or 28 December 1727) was Queen Anne's Lord Chancellor of Great Britain
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
. He was her solicitor-general and her commissioner for arranging the union with Scotland. He took part in the negotiations preceding the Peace of Utrecht.
Origins
He was the only son of Sir Philip Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire (died 20 March 1688), by his first wife, whom he married in 1660, Anne, daughter of Sir William Waller, was born in December 1661 at Stanton Harcourt, and was educated at a school at Shilton, OxfordshireShilton, Oxfordshire
Shilton is a village and civil parish about northwest of Carterton, Oxfordshire.-History:Shilton was historically part of the manor of Faringdon, and most of the parish was an exclave of Berkshire until the Counties Act 1844 joined it to Oxfordshire.The earliest parts of the Church of England...
and at Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...
. He had four brothers and four sisters from his father's second marriage in 1674 to Elizabeth Lee.
Career
He was called to the bar in 1683, and soon afterwards was appointed recorder of Abingdon, which borough he represented as a ToryTory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
in Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
from 1690 to 1705. In 1701 he was nominated by the Commons to conduct the impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
of Lord Somers; and in 1702 he became solicitor-general and was knighted by Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
. He was elected member for Bossiney
Bossiney (UK Parliament constituency)
Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs, and returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1552 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...
in 1705, and as commissioner for arranging the union with Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was largely instrumental in promoting that measure. Harcourt was appointed attorney-general in 1707, but resigned office in the following year when his friend Robert Harley, afterwards earl of Oxford, was dismissed.
He defended Sacheverell
Henry Sacheverell
Henry Sacheverell was an English High Church clergyman and politician.-Early life:The son of Joshua Sacheverell, rector of St Peter's, Marlborough,...
at the bar of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in 1710, being then without a seat in Parliament; but in the same year was returned for Cardigan, and in September again became attorney-general. In October he was appointed lord keeper of the great seal, and in virtue of this office he presided in the House of Lords for some months without a peerage, until, on 3 September 1711, he was created Baron Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt; but it was not till April 1713 that he received the appointment of lord chancellor. In 1710 he had purchased the Nuneham Courtenay
Nuneham Courtenay
Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford.-Manor:The toponym evolved from Newenham. In the 14th century the village belonged to the Courtenay family and in 1764 "Newenham" was changed to "Nuneham"....
estate in Oxfordshire, but his usual place of residence continued to be at Cokethorpe
Cokethorpe
Cokethorpe School is an independent school near Ducklington, Witney, Oxfordshire, England, founded in 1957 by . It is a member of HMC and SHMIS. The school has approximately 660 pupils, ranging in age from four to eighteen...
near Stanton Harcourt, where he once received a state visit from Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
.
In the negotiations preceding the Peace of Utrecht, Harcourt took an important part. There is no sufficient evidence for the allegations of the Whigs
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
that Harcourt entered into treasonable relations with the Pretender. On the accession of George I however, he was deprived of office and retired to Cokethorpe, where he enjoyed the society of men of letters, Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
, Prior
Matthew Prior
Matthew Prior was an English poet and diplomat.Prior was the son of a Nonconformist joiner at Wimborne Minster, East Dorset. His father moved to London, and sent him to Westminster School, under Dr. Busby. On his father's death, he left school, and was cared for by his uncle, a vintner in Channel...
and other famous writers being among his frequent guests. With Swift, however, he had occasional quarrels, during one of which the great satirist bestowed on him the sobriquet of "Trimming Harcourt."
He exerted himself to defeat the impeachment of Lord Oxford in 1717, and in 1723 he was active in obtaining a pardon for another old political friend, Lord Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his atheism. In 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the...
. In 1721 Harcourt was created a viscount and returned to the privy councils; and on several occasions during the king's absences from England he was on the Council of Regency.
Private life
Harcourt enjoyed the reputation of being a brilliant orator; Speaker OnslowArthur Onslow
Arthur Onslow was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity.-Early life and education:...
going so far as to say that "Harcourt had the greatest skill and power of speech of any man I ever knew in a public assembly." He was a member of the famous Saturday Club
Saturday Club
Prime Television's Saturday Club is a morning children's program, filmed in their Australian Capital Territory studios.Hosted by Prime Possum and Madelaine Collignon, The program is packaged around popular Disney Cartoons airing at 9am on Saturday Mornings...
, frequented by the chief literati and wits of the period, with several of whom he corresponded. Some letters to him from Pope are preserved in the Harcourt Papers. His portrait was painted by Kneller
Godfrey Kneller
Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I...
; it was once at Nuneham House.
Harcourt married first at St Marylebone on 18 October 1680 Rebecca Clarke (buried at Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about southwest of Banbury.-History until the 17th century:...
, Oxfordshire, 16.5.1687), daughter of the Rev. Thomas Clarke, his father's chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
, by whom he had five children; secondly Elizabeth Spencer (c. 1657 - Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
, 16 June 1724), daughter of Richard Spencer; and thirdly in Oxfordshire on 30 September 1724 Elizabeth Vernon (c. 1678 - 12 July 1748), daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon, of Twickenham Park. He left issue by his first wife only:
- Hon. Simon Harcourt (1684 – 1 July 1720), who was MPMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for WallingfordWallingford (UK Parliament constituency)Wallingford was a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It was a parliamentary borough created in 1295, centred on the market town Wallingford in Berkshire . It used to return two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons; this was cut to one in 1832, and...
, and predeceased his father, the lord chancellor, leaving a son, married Elizabeth Evelyn, sister of Sir John EvelynJohn EvelynJohn Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, of WottonWottonWotton may refer to:Places*Wotton, Devon*Wotton, Gloucester*Wotton, Surrey**Wotton House, Surrey, a Grade II listed building. Originally a country house and the seat of the Evelyn family, it is now a training and conference centre....
, and daughter of John Evelyn, by whom he had one son and four daughters:- Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl HarcourtSimon Harcourt, 1st Earl HarcourtSimon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, PC, FRS, Viceroy of Ireland , known as 2nd Viscount Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, between 1727 and 1749, was a British diplomat and general....
- Hon. Martha Harcourt (15 July 1715 - LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Lower Grosvenor Street, 8 April 1794), married at St GeorgeSt George Hanover SquareSt George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church in central London, built in the early 18th century. The church was designed by John James and was constructed under a project to build fifty new churches around London . It is situated on Hanover Square, near Oxford Circus, in what is now...
, Hanover SquareHanover Square, LondonHanover Square, London, is a square in Mayfair, London W1, England, situated to the south west of Oxford Circus, the major junction where Oxford Street meets Regent Street....
, on 10 April 1744 George Venables-VernonGeorge Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron VernonGeorge Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon was a British politician.Vernon was the son of Henry Vernon, of Sudbury, Derbyshire, and his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of Thomas Pigott by his wife Mary, sister and heiress of Sir Peter Venables, Baron of Kinderton, Cheshire...
, afterwards Baron VernonBaron VernonLord Vernon, Baron of Kinderton in the County of Chester, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1762 for the former Member of Parliament George Venables-Vernon. He had previously represented Lichfield and Derby in the House of Commons...
(9 February 1708 - 21 August 1780) - Hon. Anne Harcourt
- Hon. Elizabeth Harcourt
- Hon. daughter Harcourt
- Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt
- Hon. Philip Harcourt, died young
- `Hon. Anne Harcourt, married John Barlow
- Hon. Arabella Harcourt, married Herbert Aubrey
He died at Harcourt House
Harcourt House
Harcourt House Arts Centre is one of only four public galleries, and one of three artist-run centres in Edmonton, Canada. The centre delivers a host of services to both artists and the community, and acts as an essential alternative site for the presentation, distribution and promotion of...
, Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square is a public square in the West End of London, very close to Oxford Circus, where the two main shopping thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Regent Street meet. It is located at the eastern end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Portman Square, part of the Portman Estate, to its...
.
External links
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/harcourt/harcourt9.html
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