Introduction

Biography

William was the fourth son of Ed­ward Ver­non-Har­court, Arch­bi­shop of York.

He served in the na­vy, on the West In­di­an sta­tion, for five years.

He then per­suad­ed his fa­ther to agree to his be­com­ing a cler­gy­man, and he en­tered Christ Church, Ox­ford, in 1807. He gra­du­at­ed BA in 1811, and MA in 1814, and re­mained a stu­dent of Christ Church un­til 1815.

He was a per­son­al friend of Cy­ril Jack­son, the dean, and Dr. John Kidd, then a teach­er of chem­is­try at his col­lege, who im­bued him with a life­long love of that sci­ence.

Taking Ho­ly Or­ders, Har­court be­gan du­ties as a cler­gy­man at Bi­shop­thorpe, York­shire, and ac­tive­ly aid­ed the move­ment to es­tab­lish an in­sti­tu­tion in York­shire for the cul­ti­va­tion of sci­ence.

He built a la­bor­a­to­ry, and oc­cu­pied him­self in che­mi­cal an­al­y­sis, aided by his ear­ly friends Da­vy and Woll­as­ton.

In 1821, re­mains of pre­his­tor­ic life found by Buck­land in the cav­ern of Kirk­dale went to form the ba­sis of a mu­se­um, con­nect­ed with the York­shire Phi­lo­so­phi­cal So­cie­ty, of which Har­court was the first pre­si­dent. In 1824, he was elect­ed a fel­low of the Roy­al So­cie­ty.

Harcourt be­came rec­tor of Kirk­by-in-Cleve­land, and Ca­non Re­si­den­ti­ary of York, in 1823; rec­tor of Whel­drake, York­shire, in 1824; and rec­tor of Bol­ton Per­cy in 1837. Up­on the 1861 death of his el­der bro­ther, George Gran­ville Har­court, he suc­ceed­ed to the fa­mi­ly pro­per­ty, Nune­ham Park, Ox­ford­shire.

Works

• Psalms & Hymns, 1840
• Symmetrical Psal­mo­dy, 1855