Ernest Villiers

Ernest Amherst Villiers (14 November 1863 – 26 September 1923), was a British clergyman and Liberal politician.

Ernest Villiers

Villiers was the son of Reverend Charles Villiers of Croft, Yorkshire, and his wife Florence Mary (née Tyssen-Amherst). His great-grandfather, the Hon. George Villiers, was the third son of Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon.[1]

Educated at Uppingham School and Peterhouse, Cambridge,[2] he was ordained as an Anglican priest. After three years as a curate in Halifax, he became rector of Haveringland, Norfolk.[1]

Villiers married the Hon. Elaine Augusta, daughter of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne, in 1898. The couple had 2 sons and 2 daughters.[1]

He resigned from holy orders to pursue a political career, and was elected to the House of Commons for Brighton at a by-election on 5 April 1905 caused by the appointment of one of the two members as a minister. He won the by-election by 817 votes and held the seat at the 1906 general election, increasing his majority to 853, but then chose not to contest the January 1910 general election.[3]

Villiers died at his residence, Speen Court, Newbury, Berkshire in September 1923, aged 59. He was buried in the graveyard of Speen Parish Church.[1]