He had taken an overdose of a sleeping draught, aggravated, a post-mortem revealed, by heart disease. Nicknamed ‘Loulou’, Harcourt (1863-1922) had been Liberal MP for Rossendale from 1904-1916 and was made a Viscount in 1917. He held government office under Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith as First Commissioner of Works and Colonial Secretary. On his death there were rumours of suicide, although the inquest verdict was misadventure. It was thought that Harcourt might have killed himself rather than face the details of accusations of sexual impropriety with an Eton schoolboy. The coroner however rejected the idea of suicide as ‘grotesque’ and for which he said there was ‘not the slightest motive’.