Robert Venables Vernon Harcourt (7 May 1878 – 8 September 1962) was a British diplomat, playwright, farmer and Liberal Party politician.
Harcourt was the son of a Liberal statesman, Sir William Harcourt, who was briefly leader of the Liberal Party from 1896 to 1898 and his second wife Elizabeth Cabot Motley who was the daughter of John Lothrop Motley sometime Minister of the United States in London and author of a number of works of history.
[8] After leaving the Commons, Harcourt went into farming at his country home near Lyndhurst in Hampshire where he eventually built up a pedigree Jersey herd of about 50 head of cattle.
He later served as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from February 1939 until August that year, after which he was promoted to flight lieutenant.
Morley had been Secretary of State for India since 1905 but he was given a seat in the House of Lords to ease the burden of performing this office, so creating a vacancy in his Montrose Burghs constituency.
[16] In addition while an MP he successfully agitated for the appointment of a Parliamentary inquiry into the Censorship of Plays and was a member of the Joint Committee set up to examine the issue.