A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Fawcett, Henry
Fawcett, Henry (1833-1884).—Statesman and economist, b. at Salisbury, and ed. at Camb., 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 pub. his Manual of Political Economy, becoming in the same year Prof. of Political Economy in Camb. 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 m. 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.