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FAWCETT, HENRY (1833-1884)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 217 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FAWCETT, See also:HENRY (1833-1884) , See also:English politician and economist, was See also:born at See also:Salisbury on the 25th of See also:August 1833. His See also:father, See also:William Fawcett, a native of See also:Kirkby See also:Lonsdale, in See also:Westmorland, started See also:life as a See also:draper's assistant at Salisbury, opened a draper's See also:shop on his own See also:account in the See also:market-See also:place there in 1825, married a See also:solicitor's daughter of the See also:city, became a prominent See also:local See also:man, took a See also:farm, See also:developed his See also:north-See also:country sporting instincts, and displayed his shrewdness by successful speculations in Cornish See also:mining. His second son, Henry, inherited a full measure of his shrewdness, along with his masculine See also:energy, his straightforwardness, his perseverance and his fondness for fishing. The father was active in electioneering matters, and his wife was an ardent reformer. Henry Fawcett was educated locally and at See also:King's See also:College school, See also:London, and proceeded to Peterhouse, See also:Cambridge, in See also:October 1852, migrating in 1853 to Trinity See also:Hall. He was seventh wrangler in 1856, and was elected to a fellowship at his college. He had already attained some prominence as an orator at the Cambridge See also:Union. Before he See also:left school he had formed the ambition of entering See also:parliament, and, being a poor man, he resolved to approach the See also:House of See also:Commons through a career at the See also:bar. He had already entered See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn. His prospects, however, were shattered by a calamity which befell him in See also:September 1858, when two stray pellets from his father's fowling-piece passed through the glasses he was wearing and blinded him for life. Within ten minutes after his See also:accident he had made up his mind " to stick to his old pursuits as much as possible." He kept up all recreations contributing to the enjoyment of life; he fished, rowed, skated, took abundant walking and See also:horse exercise, and learnt to See also:play See also:cards with marked packs. Soon after his accident he established his headquarters at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, entered cordially into the social life of the college, and came to be regarded by many as a typical Cambridge man.

He gave up See also:

mathematics (for which he had little aptitude) , and specialized in See also:political See also:economy. He paid comparatively little See also:attention to economic See also:history, but he was in the See also:main a devout believer in economic theory, as represented by See also:Ricardo and his school. The later See also:philosophy of the subject he believed to be summed up in one See also:book, See also:Mill's Principles of Political Economy, which he regarded as the indispensable " vade mecum " of every politician. He was not a See also:great reader, and Mill probably never had a serious See also:rival in his regard, though he was much impressed by See also:Buckle's History of See also:Civilization and See also:Darwin's Origin of See also:Species when they severally appeared. He made a great impression in 1859 with a See also:paper at the See also:British Association, and he soon became a See also:familiar figure there and at various lecture halls in the north as an exponent of orthodox economic theory. Of the sincerity of his faith he gave the strongest See also:evidence by his See also:desire at all times to give a See also:practical application to his views and submit them to the test of experiment. Among Mill's disciples he was, no doubt, far inferior as an economic thinker to See also:Cairnes, but as a popularizer of the See also:system and a demonstrator of its principles by See also:concrete examples he had no rival. His See also:power of exposition was illustrated in his See also:Manual of Political Economy (1863), of which in twenty years as many as 20,000 copies were sold. See also:Alexander See also:Macmillan had suggested the book, and it appeared just in See also:time to serve as a credential, when, in the autumn of 1863, Fawcett stood and was elected for the See also:Chair of Political Economy at Cambridge. The See also:appointment attached him permanently to Cambridge, gave him an income, and showed that he was competent to See also:discharge duties from which a See also:blind man is often considered to be debarred. He was already a member of the Political Economy See also:Club, and was becoming well known in political circles as an advanced See also:Radical. In See also:January 1863, after a spirited though abortive See also:attempt in See also:Southwark, he was only narrowly beaten for the See also:borough of Cambridge.

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Early in 1864 he was adopted as one of the Liberal candidates at See also:Brighton, and at the See also:general See also:election of 1863 he was elected by a large See also:majority. Shortly after his election he became engaged to Millicent, daughter of Mr Newson See also:Garrett of See also:Aldeburgh, See also:Suffolk, and in 1867 he was married. Mrs Fawcett (b. 1847) became well known for her social and See also:literary See also:work, and especially as an See also:advocate, in the See also:press and on the See also:platform, of See also:women's See also:suffrage and the higher See also:education and See also:independent employment of women. And after her See also:husband's See also:death, as well as during his lifetime, she was a prominent See also:leader in these movements. Fawcett entered parliament just in time to see the See also:close of See also:Palmerston's career and to See also:hail the See also:adoption by See also:Gladstone of a See also:programme of reform to which most of the laissez-faire economists gave assent. He was soon known as a forcible See also:speaker, and quickly overcame the imputation that he was See also:academic and doctrinaire, though it is true that a certain monotony in delivery often gave a slightly too didactic See also:tone to his discourses. But it was as the uncompromising critic of the political shifts and expedients of his leaders that he attracted most attention. He constantly insisted upon the right of exercising private See also:judgment, and he especially devoted himself to the See also:defence of causes which, as he thought, were neglected both by his See also:official leaders and by his Radical comrades. Re-elected for Brighton to the parliament of 1868—1874, he greatly hampered the See also:government by his persistence in urging the abolition of clerical fellowships and the See also:payment of election expenses out of the rates, and by opposing the " permissive compulsion " clauses of the Elementary Education See also:Bill, and the exclusion of agricultural See also:children from the See also:scope of the See also:act. His hatred of weak concessions made him the terror of See also:parliamentary veirepullers, and in 1871 he was not undeservedly spoken of in The Times as the most "thorough Radical now in the House." His liberal ideals were further shocked by the methods by which Gladstone achieved the abolition of See also:Army See also:Purchase. His disgust at the supineness of the See also:cabinet in dealing with the problems of See also:Indian See also:finance and the growing evil of Commons Enclosures were added to the See also:catalogue of grievances which Fawcett See also:drew up in a powerful See also:article, " On the See also:Present Position of the Government," in the Fortnightly See also:Review for See also:November 1871.

In 1867 he had opposed the expenses of a See also:

ball given to the See also:sultan at the See also:India See also:office being charged upon the Indianbudget. In 187o he similarly opposed the See also:taxation of the Indian See also:revenue with the cost of presents distributed by the See also:duke of See also:Edinburgh in India. In 1871 he went alone into the See also:lobby to See also:vote against the See also:dowry granted to the princess See also:Louise. The soundness of his principles was not impeached, but his leaders looked askance at him, and from 1871 he was severely shunned by the government whips. Their suspicion was justified when in 1873 Fawcett took a leading See also:share in opposing Gladstone's See also:scheme for university education in See also:Ireland as too denominational, and so contributed largely to a conclusive defeat of the Gladstone See also:ministry. From 1869 to 188o Fawcett concentrated his energies upon two important subjects which had not hitherto been deemed worthy of serious parliamentary attention. The first of these was the preservation of commons, especially those near large towns; and the second was the responsibility of the British government for the See also:amendment of. Indian finance. In both cases the success which he obtained exhibited the See also:sterling sense and shrewdness which made up such a great See also:part of Fawcett's See also:character. In the first See also:case Fawcett's great See also:triumph was the enforcement of the general principle that each See also:annual Enclosure Act must be scrutinized by parliament and judged in the See also:light of its conformity to the interests of the community at large. Probably no one did more than he did to prevent the disafforestation of See also:Epping See also:Forest and of the New Forest. From 1869 he regularly attended the meetings of the Commons Preservation Society, and he remained to the end one of its staunchest sup-porters.

His intervention in the See also:

matter of Indian finance, which gained him the See also:sobriquet of the " member for India," led to no definite legislative achievements, but it called forth the best energies of his mind and helped to rouse an apathetic and ignorant public to its duties and responsibilities. Fawcett was defeated at Brighton in See also:February 1874. Two months later, however, he was elected for See also:Hackney, and retained the seat during his life. He was promptly replaced on the Indian Finance See also:Committee, and continued his searching inquiries with a view to promote a stricter economy in the Indian See also:budget, and a more effective responsibility in the management of Indian accounts. As an opponent of the Disraeli government (1874—1880) Fawcett came more into See also:line with the Liberal leaders. In See also:foreign politics he gave a general See also:adhesion to Gladstone's views, but he continued to devote much attention to Indian matters, and it was during this See also:period that he produced two of his best publications. His See also:Free See also:Trade and See also:Protection (1878) illustrated his continued See also:loyalty to Cobdenite ideas. At the same time his admiration for Palmerston and his repugnance to schemes of See also:Home See also:Rule show that he was not by any means a See also:peace-at-anyprice man. He thought that the Cobdenites had deserved well of their country, but he always maintained that their foreign politics were biased to excess by purely commercial considerations. As befitted a writer whose linguistic gifts were of the slenderest, Fawcett's English was a See also:sound homespun, clear and unpretentious. In a vigorous employment of the See also:vernacular he approached See also:Cobbett, whose See also:writing he justly admired. The second publication was his Indian Finance (1880), three essays reprinted from the Nineteenth See also:Century, with an introduction and appendix.

When the Liberal party returned to power in 188o Gladstone offered Fawcett a place in the new government as postmaster-general (without a seat in the cabinet). On See also:

Egyptian and other questions of foreign policy Fawcett was often far from being in full See also:harmony with his leaders, but his position in the government naturally enforced reserve. He was, moreover, fully absorbed by his new administrative functions. He gained the sympathy of a class which he had hitherto done little to conciliate, that of public officials, and he showed himself a most capable See also:head of a public See also:department. To his readiness in adopting suggestions, and his determination to push business through instead of allowing it to remain permanently in the See also:stage of preparation and circumlocution, the public is mainly indebted for five substantial postal reforms: (1) The parcels See also:post, (2) postal orders, (3) sixpenny telegrams, (4) the banking of small savings by means of stamps, (5) increased facilities for life See also:insurance and annuities. In connexion with these last two improvements Fawcett, in 188o, with the assistance of Mr See also:James Cardin, took great pains in See also:drawing up a small pamphlet called See also:Aids to See also:Thrift, of which over a million copies were circulated gratis. A very useful See also:minor innovation of his provided for the announcement on every See also:pillar-See also:box of the time of the " next collection." In the post office, as elsewhere, he was a strong advocate of the employment of women. Proportional See also:representation and the See also:extension of See also:franchise to women were both political doctrines which he adopted very early in his career, and never abandoned. Honours were showered upon him during his later years. He was made an honorary D.C.L. of See also:Oxford, a See also:fellow of the Royal Society, and was in 1883 elected See also:lord See also:rector of See also:Glasgow University. But the stress of departmental work soon began to tell upon his See also:health. In the autumn of 1882 he had a See also:sharp attack of See also:diphtheria complicated by typhoid, from which he never properly recovered.

He resumed his activities, but on the 6th of November 1884 he succumbed at Cambridge to an attack of congestion of the lungs. He was buried in Trumps ington See also:

churchyard, near Cambridge, and to his memory were erected a See also:monument in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey, a statue in Salisbury market-place, and a drinking See also:fountain on the See also:Thames See also:embankment. In economic matters Fawcett's position can best be described as transitional. He believed in co-operation almost as a See also:panacea. In other matters he clung to the old laissez-faire theorists, and was a strong See also:anti-socialist, with serious doubts about free education, though he supported the Factory Acts and wished their extension to See also:agriculture. Apparent inconsistencies were harmonized to a great extent by his dominating anxiety to increase the well-being of the poor. One of his noblest traits was his kindliness and genuine See also:affection for the humble and oppressed, country labourers and the like, for whom his sympathies seemed always on the increase. Another was his disposition to See also:interest himself in and to befriend younger men. In the great affliction of his youth Fawcett See also:bore himself with a fortitude which it would be difficult to parallel. The effect of his See also:blindness was, as the event proved, the See also:reverse of calamitous. It brought the great aim and purpose of his life to maturity at an earlier date than would otherwise have been possible, and it had a mellowing See also:influence upon his character of an exceptional and beneficent See also:kind. As a youth he was rough and canny, with a suspicion of harshness.

The kindness evoked by his misfortune, a strongly reciprocated See also:

family affection, a growing capacity for making and keeping friends—these and other causes tended to ripen all that was best, and apparently that only, in a strong but somewhat stern character. His acerbity passed away, and in later life was reserved exclusively for official witnesses before parliamentary committees. See also:Frank, helpful, conscientious to a See also:fault, a shrewd See also:gossip, and a staunch friend, he was a man whom no one could help liking. Several of his letters to his father and See also:mother at different periods of his career are preserved in See also:Leslie See also:Stephen's admirable Life (1885), and show a goodness of See also:heart, together with a homely simplicity of nature, which is most touching. In See also:appearance Fawcett was gaunt and tall, over 6 ft. 3 in. in height, large of See also:bone, and massive in See also:limb. (T.

End of Article: FAWCETT, HENRY (1833-1884)

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