Henry Fawcett
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Henry Fawcett (1833 - 1884) was a statesman and economist, born at Salisbury,
and educated at Cambridge, where he became Fellow of Trinity Hall. In 1858 he
was blinded by a shooting accident, in spite of which he continued to
prosecute his studies, especially in economics, and in 1863 published his
Manual of Political Economy, becoming in the same year Professor of
Political Economy in Cambridge Having strong political views he desired to
enter upon a political career, and after repeated defeats was elected
M.P. for Brighton. He soon attained a recognised position, devoting
himself specially to parliamentary reform and Indian questions, and was
in 1880 appointed Postmaster-General, in which office he approved himself
a capable administrator. His career was, however, cut short by his
premature death, but not before he had made himself a recognised
authority on economics, his works on which include The Economic Position of the British Labourer (1871), Labour and Wages, etc. In 1867 he married
Miss Millicent Garrett, a lady highly qualified to share in all his
intellectual interests, and who collaborated with him in some of his
publications. There is a life of him by Sir L. Stephen.
- This article is originally from A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.
