Star.
London, England, 1830-06-21 00:00:00

THE LATE LORD HARCOURT.

His Lordship was of an ancient and distingnished family, which
traces its pedigree to Bernard, a Nobleman of the Royal bleed of
Saxony, who obtained, In 871, when Rollo, the Dane, mods himself
muter of Normandy, the lordships of Harcourt, CailevUle. and
Beauficel, in that principality. From this Nobleman descended—
Errand de Harcourt, commander of the archers of Val de Rod,
in the army which successfully invaded England, in 1066, under
William the Conqueror. The second son of this warrior. Robert
de Harcourt, is said to be the ancestor of the late Earl of Harcourt;
but the immediate founder of the honours of the family was
Simon Harcourt, Esq. (grandson of Sir Simon Harcourt, Kt. a
military officer of high renown, who was appointed Governor of
Dnhlin in 1643, and immediately raised the blockade of that city,
'hen invested by the rebels, but fell soon after, before the castle of
Canick.3lain. in the county of Wicklow,) a lawyer of etni.
nonce, who filled the offices of Solicitor sad Attorney. General,
with little interruption, from 1702 until 1710, when he was no.
urinated Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and sworn a Member
of the Privy Council. In the following year, September 3, 1711,
he was elevated to the Peerage, by the title of Baron Harcourt, of
stanton.Harcourt, in the county of Oxford; and on the 7th of
April, 1712, declared Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain,
which exalted station he continued to fill until the ac.
ces•ion of George;the First, in 1714. On the 24th of July. 1721,
his Lordship was created Viscount Harcourt. and In the following
month again called to the Council Board. The Viscount was ap.
ty.intcti one of the Lords Justices in 1723, 1725, and 1727. His
Lordship married thrice, but had issue only by his first wife, Re.
hecca, daughter of Thomas Clark, Esq.—viz. one surviving son,
and two daughters. He died the 29th of July, 1727, and was sue.
ceeded by his grandson (the son of the Honourable Simon Harcourt,
31. P. by Elizabeth, daughter of John Evelyn, Esq. of Wotton.)
Simon, second Viscount, who was created on the Ist December,
1749, Viscount Nuneham, of Nuneham-Courtney. and Earl of liar.
court, of Stantan.Harcourt. His Lordship was the twenty-seventh
in paternal descent from Berrard, Lord of Harcourt. in Normandy.
lie married, in 1730, Rebecca, only daughter and heiress of Charles
Le Has, Esq. of Pipwell Abbey, in the county of Northampton, by
whom he had issue.

George Simon, his successor.
William.
Elizabeth. who was one of the ten young ladies, daughters of
Dukes and Earls, who supported the train of Queen Charlotte, at
her Majesty's nuptials, Bth September, 1781. Her Ladyship mar-
ried, in 1763, Sir W. Lee, Bart. and had issue.
The Earl, who bad filled some high diplomatic stations during
the reign of George the Second, was constituted, in 1761, Governor
to his late Majesty, King George the Third, then Prince of Wales,
and in 1761 was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to demand
the Princess Charlotte, of lifecklenburgh Sirelits, in marriage for that
Monarch ; in 1772, he was appointed Viceroy of Ireland. His
Lordship lost his life, on the 16th of September, 1777, by unfortu-
nately falling into a well, in his own park, at Nuneham, and was
succeeded by his eldest son.
George Simon, second Earl, who died without issue, in April,
1809, when the family honours devolved upon his brother William,
the late Earl, whose death we announced in Saturday's Star.
For the above circumstantial details of the family we are indebted
to Burke's Peerage and Baronetags ; for the few following particulars
of the late Nobleman to another source:—
His Lordship was born in 1743, and entered early into the army,
where he soon attained the rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and served in the
light-borse. With his corps he embarked for America, and much
distinguished himself, particularly by surprising and taking pri-
soner the American General Lee. On his return he was appoint.
ed Groom of the Bed-chamber to the King ; and, alter his
accession to the title and estate, he was also appointed by the
Queen to succeed his brother as her Muter of the Horse—an ap.
pointment which be held till the Queen's demise, when, contrary to
usual practice on such occasions, he was refused a pension by the
House of Commons. His Lordship's other appointments we have
already noticed. He was a particular personal favourite of Geo.
111. and his Queen, with whom, it is said, he lived on terms of the
closest intimacy.
With his Lordship's demise the title becomes extinct—his
Lordship, though married, having no children.