Ernest Villiers

Who was Ernest Villiers?

Ernest Amherst Villiers, was a British clergyman and Liberal politician.

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

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

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

He resigned from holy orders to pursue a political career, and was elected to the House of Commons for Brighton at a by-election in 1905. He held the seat at the 1906 general election, choosing to retire when a further election was held in January, 1910.

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