Benjamin St John Ackers (6 November 1839 – 18 April 1915) was a British Conservative Party politician. He sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

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 an officia ...

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. For example, while the political systems ...

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

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

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

Nigel Kingscote Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Robert Nigel Fitzhardinge Kingscote (28 February 1830 – 22 September 1908) was a British soldier, Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician, courtier and agriculturalist. He was generally known as Sir Nigel ...

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 Crown Lands Act 1851 ( 14 & 15 ...

.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 Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...

, 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 Sir Edward Stafford Howard (28 November 1851 – 8 April 1916) was a British Liberal politician and magistrate. Background and education A member of the influential Howard family headed by the Duke of Norfolk, Howard was the second son of Hen ...

. Ackers was appointed a deputy lieutenant of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

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 Politicians from Gloucestershire {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1830s-stub