Son of Henry Courtenay (1741–1803; DNB), Bishop of Exeter. He began his career as a junior clerk at the Treasury and remained an administrator even after he entered the House of Commons as MP for Totnes 1811–1832. He was a long-serving Secretary of the Board of Control of the East India Company 1812–1828. Southey corresponded with him about the poor laws in 1817 (Courtenay was a prolific pamphleteer) and sought his advice for the History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).