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Henry Fawcett (1833 – 1884) was a
blindness|blind Great Britain|British statesman
and economist.

He was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire|Salisbury, and
educated at Cambridge University, where he became
Fellow of Trinity Hall. 

In 1858, when he was 25, he was blinded by a
shooting accident, in spite of which he continued
with his studies, especially in economics, and in
1863 published his Manual of Political Economy,
becoming in the same year Professor of Political
Economy, Cambridge University|Professor of
Political Economy in Cambridge.

After repeated defeats he was elected member of
Parliament|MP for Brighton in 1865. He campaigned
for women's suffrage, and through this met his
wife Millicent Fawcett|Millicent Garrett whom he
married in 1867.

In 1880 he was appointed United Kingdom Postmaster
General|Postmaster-General. He introduced many
innovations, including parcel post, postal orders,
and licensing changes to permit payphones and
trunk lines.

His career was, however, cut short by his
premature death from pleurisy, 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.

Sir Leslie Stephen wrote a biography of him, Life
of Henry Fawcett, in 1885.

start box
succession box | title=United Kingdom Postmaster
General|Postmaster General | before=John Manners,
7th Duke of Rutland|The Lord John Manners |
after=George John Shaw-Lefevre |
years=1880–1884
end box

A Short Biographical Dictionary of English
Literature