The Lord Courtney of Penwith | |
|---|---|
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| Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Chairman of Ways and Means | |
| In office 1886–1893 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Arthur Otway |
| Succeeded by | John William Mellor |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 6 May 1882 – 12 December 1884 | |
| Preceded by | Lord Frederick Cavendish |
| Succeeded by | J. T. Hibbert |
| Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 26 June 1881 – 6 May 1882 | |
| Preceded by | M. E. Grant Duff |
| Succeeded by | Evelyn Ashley |
| Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department | |
| In office 1881 – 26 June 1881 | |
| Preceded by | Lord Peel |
| Succeeded by | Lord Rosebery |
| Member of Parliament forBodmin Liskeard (1876–1885) | |
| In office 22 December 1876 – 26 September 1900 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Horsman |
| Succeeded by | Sir Lewis Molesworth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 July 1832 (1832-07-06) Penzance, Cornwall, England |
| Died | 11 May 1918(1918-05-11) (aged 85) Chelsea, London, England |
| Party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Catherine Courtney (m. 1883) |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge Lincoln's Inn |
Leonard Henry Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of PenwithPC (6 July 1832 – 11 May 1918) was a radical British politician, and an academic, who became famous after being advocate ofproportional representation in Parliament and acting as an opponent ofimperialism andmilitarism.[1]
He was a member ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone'ssecond administration from 1880 to 1883 and served asChairman of Ways and Means (DeputySpeaker of the House of Commons) between 1886 and 1893.[1] He was the first and the lastBaron Courtney of Penwith.[citation needed]
Courtney was born atPenzance, Cornwall. He was the eldest son of John Sampson Courtney, a banker, and Sarah, daughter of John Mortimer.[citation needed] Two of his brothers,John Mortimer Courtney (1838–1920), andWilliam Prideaux Courtney (1845–1913), also attained public distinction, the former in the government service in Canada (from 1869, retiring in 1906), rising to be deputy-minister of finance, and the latter in the British civil service (1865–1892), and as a prominent man of letters and bibliographer. He was educated atSt John's College, Cambridge, where he wasSecond Wrangler and firstSmith's Prizeman, and elected a fellow of his college.[2] He wascalled to the bar atLincoln's Inn in 1858. From 1872 to 1875 he was professor of political economy atUniversity College London.[3] He was president of theRoyal Geological Society of Cornwall from 1881 to 1882.[4]
In December 1876, after a previous unsuccessful attempt, Courtney was elected to parliament forLiskeard as aLiberal. He continued to represent the borough, andBodmin into which it was merged by theReform Act of 1885, until 1900, when his attitude towards theSouth African War (he and his wifeCatherine were one of the foremost of the so-called Pro-Boer Party) compelled his retirement.[3]
Until 1885, he was a devoted adherent ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone, particularly in finance and foreign affairs. In 1880 he was appointedUnder-Secretary of State for the Home Department, in 1881Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and in 1882Financial Secretary to the Treasury. He was known as a stubborn fighter for principle, and after finding that the government'sReform Bill in 1884 contained no recognition of the scheme forproportional representation, to which he was deeply committed, he resigned office. He refused to support Gladstone'sHome Rule Bill in 1886 and was one of those who chiefly contributed to its rejection, whose reputation for unbending integrity and intellectual eminence gave solidity to theLiberal Unionist party.[3]
In 1886, Courtney was electedChairman of Ways and Means (DeputySpeaker of the House of Commons) and was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1889. His efficiency in this office seemed to mark him out for the speakership after the1895 general election. A Liberal Unionist, however, could be elected only byConservative votes, and he had made himself objectionable to a large section of the Conservative Party by his independent attitude on various questions, on which his liberalism outweighed his party loyalty. He, would in any case, have been incapacitated by an affection of the eyesight, which for a while threatened to withdraw him from public life altogether.[3]
After 1895, Courtney's divergences from the Unionist party on questions other than Irish politics became gradually more marked. He became known in the House of Commons principally for his candid criticism of the measures introduced by his nominal leaders, and he was rather to be ranked among the Opposition than as a Ministerialist. When the crisis with theTransvaal came in 1899, Courtney's views, which remained substantially what they were when he supported the settlement afterMajuba in 1881, had plainly become incompatible with his position even as a nominal follower ofLord Salisbury andJoseph Chamberlain.[3]
He led the work of theSouth African Conciliation Committee which brought the sufferings of the Boers to the attention of British people.[5]
In November 1902, he was appointed chairman of theRoyal Commission on Superannuation of the Civil Service, which delivered their report the following year.[6]
He gradually reverted to formal membership of the Liberal party and, in January 1906, unsuccessfully contestedEdinburgh West as a supporter of SirHenry Campbell-Bannerman at the general election. Among thebirthday honours of 1906 he was elevated to the peerage asBaron Courtney of Penwith, in the County of Cornwall.[7]
Courtney was a prominent supporter of the women's movement through the influence of his wife and sister-in-law. In his earlier years, he was a regular contributor toThe Times, and he wrote numerous essays in the principal reviews on political and economic subjects. In 1901, he published a book onThe Working Constitution of the United Kingdom. He wasPresident of the Royal Statistical Society, 1897–99.[8] He was a great friend of artistNorman Garstin.
Courtney marriedCatherine Potter, daughter of Richard Potter and an elder sister ofBeatrice Webb, on 15 March 1883 at St Jude's Church,Whitechapel.[9] They had no children.
In May 1918, aged 85, he was living at15 Cheyne Walk at the time of his death. He left effects totalling £56,672 2s 6d.[10] The peerage became extinct.[citation needed]
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Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Courtney, Leonard Henry Courtney, Baron".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 328–329.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLiskeard 1876–1885 | Succeeded by Constituency merged intoBodmin |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBodmin 1885–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of Ways and Means 1886–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1881 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1881–1882 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1882–1884 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Courtney of Penwith 1906–1918 | Extinct |
