Courtney, LEONARD HENRY

Courtney, LEONARD HENRY, was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, the son of a banker there, July 6, 1832. Educated at Penzance and St John's College, Cambridge, he graduated second wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in 1855, and became fellow of his college the year after. In 1858 he was called to the bar, and from 1872 to 1876 he filled the chair of political economy at University College, London. He early began to write for the Times, and his pamphlets and articles to monthly magazines placed him among the ablest and most advanced doctrinaire Liberals in England. He early became an eager advocate for proportional representation and a wide extension of local government. He was returned for Liskeard in 1876 and 1885; in 1886, 1892, and 1895 for the Bodmin division; in 1900 he was rejected as a pro-Boer. He was Under-secretary of State first in the Home and next in the Colonial Office, and in May 1882 succeeded Lord Frederick Cavendish as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. He was chairman of committees in both the parliaments of 1885 and 1886-92.