Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt

General Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, (1714 – 16 September 1777), known as Viscount Harcourt between 1727 and 1749, was a British Army officer, courtier and diplomat who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1772 to 1776.

Biography

Harcourt was born in Oxfordshire, the son of Hon. Simon Harcourt, M.P. for Wallingford and Abingdon, and Elizabeth Evelyn, sister of Sir John Evelyn, 1st Baronet. His father died in 1720, when Simon was still a small child. He was educated at Westminster School and in 1727 succeeded his grandfather Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt as 2nd Viscount Harcourt. In 1745, having raised a British Army regiment for service during the Jacobite rising of 1745, the 76th Foot (Lord Harcourts Regiment), he received a commission as a colonel in the Army. The regiment was disbanded on 10 June 1746.

In 1749, he was created Earl Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt. He was appointed governor to the prince of Wales, afterward George III, in 1751; and after the accession of the latter to the throne, in 1761, he was appointed as special ambassador to Mecklenburg-Strelitz, to negotiate a marriage between King George and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Princess Charlotte), whom he conducted to England.

Personal life He married, on 16 October 1735, Rebecca Samborne Le Bass (died 16 January 1765), daughter and heiress of Charles Samborne Le Bass, of Pipewell Abbey, Northamptonshire. Hon. Anne Harcourt (June 1741 – August 1746) William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt (20 March 1743 – 17 June 1830), upon whose death without male issue the family titles became extinct.