Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston

Akers-Douglas was born in West Malling, Kent, the son of Reverend Aretas Akers, parson of West Malling, and his wife Frances Maria, daughter of Francis Holles Brandram. He was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford, before being called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1875. That same year he took the additional surname of Douglas under royal licence in accordance with a relative's will.{{cite book | last=Cokayne | first=George E. | authorlink=George Cokayne |editor1-last=Doubleday |editor1-first=H. A. |editor2-last=Howard de Walden |editor2-first=Lord |editor2-link=Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden | title=The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant | volume=XIII, Peers Created 1901 to 1938 | publisher=St. Catherine Press | location=London | year=1940 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/371308/ |page=154}}

File:Akers-Douglas.JPG) in Vanity Fair, 26 September 1885]]

In 1880, Akers-Douglas was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for East Kent and held it until it was divided under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. In 1883, Akers-Douglas was appointed whip to the Conservatives, where he proved highly effective in keeping the back-benchers in line and working with the party leader Lord Salisbury.Eric Alexander, Chief Whip : the political life and times of Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston (1961)

In the 1885 general election, he was elected MP for St Augustine's in the county of Kent.{{hansard-contribs | mr-aretas-akers-douglas | Aretas Akers-Douglas }} He became Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, and retained this post (with a short interval in 1886 when Gladstone returned to power) for the next seven years. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1891.{{London Gazette|issue= 26176 |date= 26 June 1891 |page=3367 |city= London }}

In 1895, Akers-Douglas was appointed First Commissioner of Works, with a seat in the Cabinet. Seven years later, when Arthur Balfour became Prime Minister, he became Home Secretary on 11 August 1902,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Mr Balfour´s Ministry - full list of appointments |date=9 August 1902 |page=5 |issue=36842| }}{{London Gazette |issue=27464 |date=12 August 1902 |page=5175 }} and resigned three and a half years later when the Liberals took power.

In 1911, Akers-Douglas was created Viscount Chilston, of Boughton Malherbe in the County of Kent, and Baron Douglas of Baads, in the County of Midlothian.{{London Gazette|issue= 28512 |date= 11 July 1911 |page=5168 |city= London }} The viscountcy was named for his country house at Chilston Park. During the First World War, Lord Chilston was Chief County Director for the British Red Cross Society and St John Ambulance, in recognition of which he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours.{{London Gazette|issue= 31840 |date= 26 March 1920 |page=3757 |supp=y |city= London }} Apart from his political career he was a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Kent, Edinburgh and Dumfries and a lieutenant in the East Kent Yeoman Cavalry.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=A. Akers-Douglas (Kent, St. Augustine's Division) |encyclopedia=Debrett's Guide to the House of Commons |url=https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1886londuoft |date=1886 |page=43}} He was chairman of the Midland Counties Electric Supply Company Limited.{{Cite news |date=29 November 1921 |title=Midland Counties Electric Supply Company Limited |pages=16 |work=The Times}}

Lord Chilston married Adeline Mary, daughter of Horatio Austen-Smith, in 1875. They had two sons and five daughters.

He died at his London home in January 1926, aged 74, and was buried at Boughton Malherbe, Kent. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Aretas, who became British Ambassador to Russia. Lady Chilston died in February 1929.

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite ODNB |last=Ridley |first=Jane |year=2004 |title=Douglas, Aretas Akers, first Viscount Chilston (1851–1926) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30360 |access-date=2008-12-11 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30360 }}

{{commons category|Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston}}

• Alexander, Eric. Chief Whip : the political life and times of Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston (1961)

• {{Hansard-contribs | mr-aretas-akers-douglas | the Viscount Chilston }}

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{{s-par|uk}}

{{s-bef | before = Edward Leigh Pemberton
William Deedes}}

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for East Kent

| with = Edward Leigh Pemberton

| years = 1880–1885}}

{{s-non | reason = Constituency abolished}}

{{s-new | constituency}}

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for St Augustine's

| years = 1885–1911}}

{{s-aft | after = Ronald John McNeill}}

{{s-off}}

{{succession box | title=Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | before=Lord Richard Grosvenor | after=Arnold Morley | years=1885–1886}}

{{succession box | title=Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | before=Arnold Morley | after=Hon. Edward Marjoribanks | years=1886–1892}}

{{succession box | title=First Commissioner of Works | before=Herbert John Gladstone | after=The Lord Windsor | years=1895–1902}}

{{succession box | title=Home Secretary | before=Charles Ritchie | after=Herbert Gladstone | years=1902–1905 }}

{{s-reg|uk}}

{{s-new | creation}}

{{s-ttl | title = Viscount Chilston

| years = 1911–1926 }}

{{s-aft | after = Aretas Akers-Douglas}}

{{s-end}}

{{HomeSecretary}}

{{Conservative Chief Whips}}

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Category:1851 births

Category:1926 deaths

Category:People from West Malling

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Category:Secretaries of State for the Home Department

Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford

Category:English justices of the peace

Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Category:Deputy lieutenants of Kent

Category:People educated at Eton College

Category:Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Akers-Douglas, Aretas

Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages

Category:Viscounts created by George V