Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston

Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston

Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston GBE KGStJ PC DL JP (birth name: Aretas Douglas ; born October 21, 1851 in Hayes , Kent , England , † January 15, 1926 at 34 Lower Belgrave Street, London ) was a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons between 1880 and 1911 and Minister of the Interior from 1902 to 1905 . During his tenure as Minister of the Interior, the so-called Browndog Affair arose, a political controversy about interventions in living animals for scientific purposes ( vivisection ) in Edwardian England ( 1902–1910 ). In 1911 he was raised to the hereditary nobility as Viscount Chilston and Baron Douglas of Baads and was a member of the House of Lords until his death.

Life

Lawyer, Member of the House of Commons and Minister

"The Kent Gang": Aretas Akers-Douglas in a caricature by Carlo Pellegrini in Vanity Fair magazine on September 26, 1885

Aretas Akers, son of the priest Aretas Akers and his wife Frances Maria Brandram, attended from 1863 to 1866 the prestigious Eton College and took in 1870 to study law at the University College of the University of Oxford , where he graduated 1874th After his admission to the bar ( Inns of Court ) of Inner Temple , he began in 1874 as a barrister . Due to the will of his second cousin James Douglas Stoddart-Douglas of Baads in the will, he changed his name to Aretas Akers-Douglas on May 20, 1875 with Royal License .

On March 31, 1880, Akers-Douglas was elected as a candidate of the Conservative Party for the first time as a member of the House of Commons, where he initially represented the Kent Eastern constituency and then from November 24, 1885 to June 28, 1911 the constituency of St Augustine’s .

After the election victory of the conservative Tories , he took on June 23, 1885 following his appointment by Prime Minister Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury ) his first government post and has held this initially until 1 February 1886. After the Marquess of Salisbury had again assumed the office of Prime Minister on August 3, 1886, he was again Parliamentary Secretary in the Treasury and this time held the office until August 15, 1892. In this capacity he was also appointed a member of the Privy Council on June 23, 1891 .

On June 25, 1895, Akers-Douglas, who also temporarily magistrate (justice of the peace) and Deputy Lieutenant of the county , was first appointed by Prime Minister Salisbury, a minister and held until the end of his term on 11 July 1902, the Office the Minister for Public Works (First Commissioner of Works) .

Home Secretary, the Browndog Affair and House of Lords

Salisbury's successor as Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour , appointed Akers-Douglas Home Secretary on July 12, 1902 . He held this ministerial office until the end of Balfour's tenure on December 5, 1905.

During his tenure as Minister of the Interior, the so-called Browndog Affair arose, a political controversy about interventions in living animals for scientific purposes (vivisection) in Edwardian England (1902–1910). The affair was marked by street battles between opponents and supporters of vivisection with the police and discussions about the Cruelty to Animals Act . This law stipulated that researchers could not be prosecuted for cruelty, but animals must be anesthetized in the experiments, only used once and killed after the experiment. These restrictions were subject to the proviso that the successful outcome of the experiment should not be endangered by them. Prosecution under the law was only possible with the consent of the Interior Minister.

After his departure from the House of Commons, Akers-Douglas was granted a letters patent dated July 6, 1911 as Viscount Chilston, of Boughton Malherbe in the County of Kent, Baron Douglas of Baads, of Baads in the County of Midlothian in the hereditary nobility (Hereditary Peerage) and was a member of the House of Lords until his death. Gladstone, who was also Knight of Grace of the Order of Saint John (KGStJ), was also elevated to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1920 .

In his June 10, 1875 Adeline Mary Austen-Smith closed marriage produced five daughters and two sons were born, including the eldest son Aretas Akers-Douglas , of the United Kingdom as ambassador in Austria , in Hungary and in the Soviet Union represented and after inherited the titles of Viscount Chilston and Baron Douglas of Baads after his father's death.

Web links

• Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston at Hansard (English)
• Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston on thepeerage.com , accessed August 21, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Viscount Chilston 1911-1926	Aretas Akers-Douglas