Aeneas Mackay (1839-1909)

Æneas, Baron Mackay
16th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office 20 April 1888 – 21 August 1891
Monarch	William III Wilhelmina, Emma (Regent)
Preceded by	Jan Heemskerk
Succeeded by	Gijsbert van Tienhoven
Personal details
Born	Æneas Mackay (1838-11-29)29 November 1838 Nijmegen, Netherlands
Died	13 November 1909(1909-11-13) (aged 70) The Hague, Netherlands
Political party	Anti-Revolutionary
Spouse(s)	Maria Catharina Anna Fagel
Children	1
Occupation	Lawyer, politician

Æneas, Baron Mackay (29 November 1838 – 13 November 1909) was a Dutch Anti-Revolutionary politician who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1888 to 1891. Born into a noble family from Gelderland, he studied Law in Utrecht and worked as lawyer and a judge. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 1876, and retained his seat for twelve years before his premiership. In his cabinet, he served as minister of the Interior and minister of Colonial Affairs. After another thirteen years in the House, he became a member of the Council of State, receiving the honorary title Minister of State.

Early life

Mackay was born in Nijmegen on 29 November 1839, into a noble family of Scottish origin. His parents were Johan François Hendrik Jacob Ernestus Mackay, a member of the States of Gelderland and the brother of the 10th Lord Reay, and his wife Margaretha Clara Françoise van Lynden. At the age of six, he was among the first 116 students of De Klokkenberg, the first particular school in the area, which was established primarily at the hands of his father, despite enduring opposition from the municipal and provincial governments. He received secondary education at the Latin school in Nijmegen.^[1][2]

Mackay moved to Utrecht in 1856 in order to study Roman and Contemporary Law. He left University on 27 November 1862 after defending his dissertation "The exclusion of clergy and ministers of Religion in the Legislature in accordance with art. 91 of the Constitution", after which he settled back in Nijmegen as a lawyer. He became deputy registrar in Arnhem in 1865, deputy prosecutor in Zwolle in 1867, and judge in 1873.^[2]

Political career

Mackay twice failed to get elected as Member of Parliament, for Nijmegen in 1873 and for Zutphen in 1875. On 4 April 1876, he was elected as MP for Amersfoort, defeating the liberal Willem Hendrik de Beaufort. In the House, he was concerned with a variety of policy areas, including justice, education, colonies and suffrage; in his maiden's speech, he defended particular education and reform of the Elections Act. In 1883, he and three other MPs introduced a bill that would reduce the regulation imposed by the Lower Education Act, but the bill was fell due after a less far-reaching bill was passed the following year. In 1884, Mackay was elected Speaker of House of Representatives, obtaining 41 of 82 votes. He lost re-election as Speaker to Eppo Cremers the following year. In 1886, Mackay and five other MPs introduced an amendment to the education provision in the constitutional amendment proposed by the cabinet. After the cabinet failed to meet the Anti-Revolutionaries' demands regarding education and the constitutional amendment failed to pass the House, the cabinet resigned. In the subsequent election, Mackay was elected in both Amersfoort and Utrecht, and he chose to sit in the House for the latter.^[2][3]

Two years later, after the right won a parliamentary majority in the 1888 general election, Mackay was appointed as formateur, tasked with composing a cabinet. On 20 April, Mackay became chairman of the council of ministers, or Prime Minister of the Netherlands. In his own cabinet, he served as Minister of the Interior. The school struggle was the most important issue for the cabinet. In 1889, the cabinet amended the Lower Education Act, improving the position of particular education. From then on, particular schools would receive subsidy on the same footing as public schools, and a new tax on school fees for municipal schools would allow particular schools to compete with public ones. In 1890, after his budget failed to pass through the Senate, Levinus Wilhelmus Christiaan Keuchenius resigned, and Mackay succeeded him as Minister of Colonial Affairs. A year later, a bill regarding military organisation failed to pass through the House, opposed by many Catholics, and the cabinet resigned on 21 Augustus 1891.^[1][2]

A years after the end of his premiership, Mackay returned to the House of Representatives for Kampen, although he refrained from leading his party in the House. He declined taking part in the cabinet of Abraham Kuyper in 1901. He was elected for another term as Speaker of the House in the same year. He was one of the Anti-Revolutionary to vote against Johannes Tak van Poortvliet's constitutional amendment. After this constitutional amendment caused some Anti-Revolutionaries to split off and found the Christian Historical Union, Mackay left some ambiguity over his alignment. He remained Speaker until 1905, when he chose not to stand for re-election in the general election. In his last years, Mackay was a member of Council of State. He died in The Hague on 13 November 1909, at the age of 70.^[1][2]

Private life

Mackay married Elisabeth Wilhelmina, Baroness van Lynden in Nijmegen on 7 July 1869.^[1] They had one son, Eric, Baron Mackay, who inherited the Scottish peerage Lord Reay from his great-granduncle.

References

External links

• Media related to Æneas Mackay at Wikimedia Commons

Prime Ministers of the Netherlands
Schimmelpenninck De Kempenaer Thorbecke Van Hall Van der Brugghen Rochussen Van Hall Ja. Van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Heemstra Thorbecke Fransen van de Putte Ju. Van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Bosse Thorbecke De Vries J. Heemskerk Kappeyne van de Coppello Van Lynden van Sandenburg J. Heemskerk Mackay Van Tienhoven Roëll Pierson Kuyper De Meester T. Heemskerk Cort van der Linden Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Colijn De Geer Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Colijn De Geer Gerbrandy Schermerhorn Beel Drees Beel De Quay Marijnen Cals Zijlstra De Jong Biesheuvel Den Uyl Van Agt Lubbers Kok Balkenende Rutte

Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Luzac De Kempenaer Thorbecke Van Reenen Simons Van Rappard Van Tets van Goudriaan Van Heemstra Thorbecke Geertsema J. Heemskerk Fock Thorbecke Van Bosse Geertsema J. Heemskerk Kappeyne van de Coppello Six Pijnacker Hordijk J. Heemskerk Mackay De Savornin Lohman Tak van Poortvliet Van Houten Goeman Borgesius Kuyper Rink T. Heemskerk Cort van der Linden De Beerenbrouck De Geer Kan De Beerenbrouck De Wilde Boeijen Burger Van Boeijen Beel Witteman Van Maarseveen Van Schaik Teulings Van Maarseveen Teulings Beel Van Oven Suurhoff Struycken Toxopeus Smallenbroek Samkalden Verdam Beernink Geertsema De Gaay Fortman Wiegel Van Thijn Rood Rietkerk Korthals Altes De Korte Van Dijk De Koning Van Dijk Dales Hirsch Ballin Van Thijn De Graaff-Nauta Dijkstal Peper Van Boxtel De Vries Remkes Ter Horst Hirsch Ballin Donner Spies Plasterk Blok Plasterk

Ministers of Colonial Affairs of the Netherlands (1848–1945)
Rijk  Baud  Van den Bosch  Pahud  Mijer  Rochussen  Lotsy*  Van Kraaijenburg  Loudon  Uhlenbeck  Betz*  Van de Putte  Mijer  Trakranen  Hasselman  De Waal  Brocx  Van Bosse  Van de Putte  Van Oldenaller  Mees  Van Bosse  Wichers*  Van Rees  Van Oldenaller  De Brauw  Willem Frederik van Erp Taalman Kip*  Franciscus Gerard van Bloemen Waanders  August Willem Philip Weitzel*  Jacobus Petrus Sprenger van Eyk  Levinus Wilhelmus Christiaan Keuchenius  Æneas Mackay  Willem Karel van Dedem  Jacob Hendrik Bergsma  Jacob Theodoor Cremer  Titus van Asch van Wijck  Johannes Willem Bergansius*  Idenburg  Fock  Heemskerk*  Idenburg  De Waal Malefijt  Pleyte  Rambonnet*  Pleyte  Idenburg  De Beerenbrouck*  De Graaff  Colijn*  Welter  Koningsberger  De Graaff  Colijn  Welter  Cornelis van den Bussche  Welter  Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy  Van Mook *denotes interim