Aretas Akers III

Aretas Akers III of Malling Abbey, Kent, son of Aretas Akers II and Jane Akers née Ramsay (both q.v.), nephew of Edmund Fleming Akers (q.v.), claimant for a share of the compensation for Jambou Vale in St Vincent under the will of his father.

1. Baptised in St Pancras, London, 21/06/1799, the son of Aretas Akers II and his wife Jane Akers née Ramsay. His father had inherited land in St Vincent and St Kitts from his grandfather. 

2. He was left £25,000 and 100 acres of uncultivated land in St Vincent in the will of his father, of whom he was also residuary legatee, in 1816. In his will, his father also stipulated that Aretas III was not to attend a public school but to attend a university. Matriculated Christ Church, Oxford, 28/05/1816 age 17. 

3. Married Isabella Larking, daughter of John Larking, 09/05/1821. They had at least 11 children born in London and Kent between 1821 and 1845. 

4. In the 1841 census he was living at Bellevue, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, age 40, with his wife Isabella, age 40, his children Isabella age 19, Charles age 12, Caroline age 10, Emma age 9, Mary age 7 and George age 3, plus a governess, 1 male servant and 5 female servants. In 1851 he was living at Malling Abbey, West Malling, Kent, with his wife Isabella and children Isabella, Jane M., Mary E., George and Dorothy (age 6) with a governess, 2 male servants and 5 female servants. 

5. Justice of the Peace for Kent, Deputy Lieutenant for Kent. Aretas Akers III died 21/04/1855. His grandson, the son of the Rev. Aretas Akers [IV] (1825-1856) and Frances Maria Brandram, was the politician Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston. The addition of 'Douglas' reflected the inheritance of slave-derived property under the will of George Douglas of Chilston Park (q.v.) of 1833: Aretas Akers III was contingent residuary legatee.

T71/892 St Vincent claim no. 892 (Jambou Vale). 

1. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]. See separate entry for Aretas Akers II. 

2. Will of Aretas Akers II transcribed at Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 5 p. 313. Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online].  

3. http://thepeerage.com/p21968.htm#i219672. Ancestry.com, London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 [database online]. Ancestry.com, England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 [database online]. 1841 census and 1851 census online, family of Aretas Akers, Tonbridge Wells. 

4. 1841 census online; 1851 census online. 

5. Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online]; ODNB Jane Ridley, ‘Douglas, Aretas Akers-, first Viscount Chilston (1851–1926)’.