Harcourt and son

the long version

"Harcourt and Son is a political biography of the great Victorian Liberal Sir William Vernon Harcourt (1827-1904). It is published in the centenary year of Harcourt's death, as the first full-scale biography for over eighty years, and will come as a pleasant surprise for those who expect Gladstone's colleagues to be solemn, worthy, and sanctimonious. Harcourt's letters and speeches are often hilariously funny, and his larger-than-life personality leaps off the page. The title of the book reflects the fact that throughout his ministerial career, as home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer under Gladstone, Harcourt was supported by his son Lewis ("Loulou"), who acted as private secretary and confidential advisor, and whose unpublished journals were one of the main sources for the book. The author also made extensive use of other contemporary diaries (particularly those of John Morley, only recently made accessible) and thousands of manuscript letters to and from Harcourt."--BOOK JACKET.