Leonard Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith
Leonard Henry Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith (6 July 183211 May 1918) was a radical British politician, and an academic, who became famous after being advocate of proportional representation in Parliament and acting as an opponent of imperialism and militarism. He was a member of William Ewart Gladstone's second administration from 1880 to 1883 and served as Chairman of Ways and Means (Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons) between 1886 and 1893. He was the first and the last Baron Courtney of Penwith. Background and education Courtney was born at Penzance, Cornwall. He was the eldest son of John Sampson Courtney, a banker, and Sarah, daughter of John Mortimer. Two of his brothers, John Mortimer Courtney (1838–1920), and William Prideaux Courtney (1845–1913), also attained public distinction, the former in the government service in Canada (from 1869, retiring in 1906), rising to be deputy-minister of finance, and the latter in the British civil service (1865–1892), and as a prominent man of letters and bibliographer. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was Second Wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, and elected a fellow of his college. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1858.