He was educated at Westminster School; matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 2 July 1774; was elected fellow of All Souls College in 1777 and graduated B.C.L.

For 16 years he administered the affairs of the see of Carlisle with good sense and discretion, spending more than the whole income of the see upon the wants of his diocese.

Venables-Vernon was nominated on 26 November 1807 as archbishop of York,[2] and was confirmed in St. James's Church, Westminster on 19 January 1808.

[3] In the same year, on 20 January, he was gazetted a privy councillor, and made Lord High Almoner to George III, an office which he also held under Queen Victoria's reign.

He was an eloquent speaker, and occasionally spoke in the House of Lords on ecclesiastical matters, but usually abstained from political contentions.

He continued to enjoy good health, and as late as 1 November 1847 visited York and inspected the repairs of the chapterhouse.

[1] Early in October 1847, however, Harcourt fell into an ornamental pool at Bishopthorpe after a bridge on which he was walking collapsed.

Leveson Vernon Harcourt,[7] was chancellor of York, an author of The Doctrine of the Deluge[8] and of other theological works.

[1] An account of the life of Margaret Godolphin who died in 1678 was written by John Evelyn and this was passed down through his family to Harcourt.