Benjamin St John Ackers (6 November 1839 – 18 April 1915) was a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician. He sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in 1885. At the 1880 general election he stood unsuccessfully in the borough of Gloucester. A

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

was lodged against the election of the two

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidates, which led to one of the two returns being voided. However, the

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

was suspended, and no by-election was held. In 1885, a vacancy arose in the Western division of Gloucestershire, when the Liberal MP

Robert Kingscote Colonel Sir Robert Nigel Fitzhardinge Kingscote (28 February 1830 – 22 September 1908) was a British soldier, Liberal politician, courtier and agriculturalist. He was generally known as Sir Nigel Kingscote. Biography Kingscote was the son of ...

was appointed as

Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues The Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues were officials under the United Kingdom Crown, charged with the management of Crown lands. Their office were customarily known as the Office of Woods. Under the Act of Parliament 14 and 15 Vict ...

.Craig, ''British parliamentary election results 1832–1885'', page 392 Ackers was selected as the Conservative candidate for the resulting by-election, which was held on 12 March 1885. He won the seat with a majority of 411 votes (4.4% of the total) over his Liberal opponent. Constituencies were radically revised by the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

, and at the general election in November 1885 Ackers contested the new Thornbury division. He was defeated by a margin of 145 votes by the Liberal Stafford Howard. Ackers was appointed a deputy lieutenant of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1903.

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* * 1839 births 1915 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Deputy Lieutenants of Gloucestershire UK MPs 1880–1885 People from Gloucestershire {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1830s-stub