WILLIAM

See also:

• VERNON
• VERNON, EDWARD (1684-1757)

VERNON

See also:

• HARCOURT
• HARCOURT, SIMON HARCOURT, 1ST VISCOUNT (c. 1661-1727)
• HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM GEORGE GRANVILLE VENABLES VERNON (1827-1904)
• WILLIAM VERNON HARCOURT (1789-1871)

HARCOURT (1789-1871)  , founder of the British Association, was born at Sudbury, Derbyshire, in 1789, a younger son of Edward Vernon [Harcourt], archbishop of York (see above) . Having served for five years in the navy he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, with a view to taking holy orders . He began his clerical duties at Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire, in 1811, and having developed a great interest in science while at the university, he took an active part in the foundation of the Yorkshire Philosonhical Society, of which hp was the first president . The laws and the plan of proceedings for the British Association for the Advancement of Science were drawn up by him; and Harcourt was elected president in 1839 . In 1824 he became canon of York and rector of Wheldrake in Yorkshire, and in 1837 rector of Bolton Percy . The Yorkshire school for the blind and the Castle Howard reformatory both owe their existence to his energies . His spare time until quite late in life was occupied with scientific experiments . Inheriting the Harcourt estates in Oxfordshire from his brother in 1861, he removed to Nuneham, where he died in April 1871 .