Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston

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Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston, GBE PC (October 21, 1851 – January 15, 1926) was a British Conservative statesman and politician. Born in Hayes, Kent, he was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford, before being called to the bar in 1875. That same year he took the additional surname of Douglas under royal licence in accordance with a relative's will.

In 1880, Akers-Douglas was returned to the House of Commons as Conservative representative for Kent East, and five years later he exchanged this seat for that of the St Augustine's Division in the same county. In 1883, he was appointed whip to the Conservatives, and in 1885, 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.

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, and resigned four years later when the Liberals won the 1906 General Election. In 1911, he was created Viscount Chilston, of Boughton Malherbe in the County of Kent, and Baron Douglas of Baads, of Baads in the County of Midlothian.

During the First World War, Lord Chilston was Chief County Director for the British Red Cross Society, in recognition of which he was appointed GBE in 1920. He died six years later at his London home and was buried at Boughton Malherbe, Kent.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Edward Leigh Pemberton William Deedes	Member of Parliament for Kent East with Edward Leigh Pemberton 1880–1885	Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Preceded by Constituency created	Member of Parliament for St Augustine's 1885–1911	Succeeded by Ronald John McNeill
Political offices
Preceded by Lord Richard Grosvenor	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 1885–1886	Succeeded by Arnold Morley
Preceded by Arnold Morley	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 1886–1892	Succeeded by Edward Marjoribanks
Preceded by Herbert John Gladstone	First Commissioner of Works 1895–1902	Succeeded by The Lord Windsor
Preceded by Charles Thomson Ritchie	Home Secretary 1902–1905	Succeeded by Herbert John Gladstone
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Viscount Chilston 1911–1926	Succeeded by Aretas Akers-Douglas