Sir William Mitchell Acworth KCSI (22 November 1850 – 2 April 1925) was a British railway economist, barrister and politician.

Early life and background

The third son of the Reverend William Acworth of the Hall, South Stoke, near

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, and Margaret ''née'' Dundas, he was born at

Rothley Rothley ( ) is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Charnwood in Leicestershire, England. Situated around west of the River Soar and north of Leicester, it had a population of 3,612 inhabitants . The population measured at the 201 ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

, where his father was

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

in 1850. He was educated at Uppingham School and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

. He graduated with a master's degree in modern history in 1875.

Career

For eighteen months after his graduation he worked in Germany as English tutor to Prince Wilhelm and

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

of Prussia, the future ''

Kaiser ''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...

'' Wilhelm II and his brother. He subsequently took a post as a master in Dulwich College, where he remained until 1885. Acworth became involved in

Conservative and Unionist The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, ...

politics of London, and in 1886 he was elected a member of the Metropolitan Asylums Board. When the first elections to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

was held in January 1889, Acworth was nominated as a candidate of the Conservative-backed

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic ...

. He was elected as one of two councillors representing Dulwich. He served only one term, standing down at the next council elections in 1892. In 1890 he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

. In 1889 he wrote ''Railways of England'' followed in the following year by ''Railways of Scotland''. These two books comprised a series of descriptive articles of the railways, but his later work concentrated on the economics and statistics of the industry. He visited the United States where he studied the statistical methods used on the railroads there, and on his return wrote his third book, ''Railways and the Traders'' (1891), which was critical of the accounting practices of the British railway companies. From the mid-1890s he lectured at the newly formed

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

on railways. In 1905 he published his fourth book ''The Elements of Railway Economics'', which was widely used as a textbook. In 1919 he gave evidence to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

before the Joint Committee on Inter-State and Foreign Commerce. His testimony formed the basis of his fifth and final book, ''State Railway Ownership'', was published in 1920. He maintained his connections with the Conservative Party, and was adopted as their candidate for

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west o ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. He contested the seat on three occasions in 1906, 1910 and

1911 A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * ...

but failed to be elected. His expertise led him to serve on the Royal Commission on Accidents to Railway Servant (1899), the Vice-Regal Commission on Irish Railways (1906), the Royal Commission of Enquiry into Canadian Railways (1916), the Royal Commission on South Rhodesian Railways (1918). He was also appointed a director of the Underground Electric Railways of London and of the Midland and South Western Junction Railway. In 1921 Acworth was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

and appointed chairman of the Committee on

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

. The report of the committee, known as the "Acworth Report", led to reorganisation of railways, and the creation of a separate Railway Budget, an arrangement which is absent in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Star of India in 1922. In 1923 he prepared a report on Austrian railways for the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

. He was married twice. In 1878 he married Elizabeth Louisa Oswald Brown, who died in 1904. In 1923 he married Elizabeth Learmonth Wotherspoon. In 1924 he was given the task of reorganising the German Railways by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission. The heavy workload led to a deterioration in his health, and he died suddenly at his London home at

The Albany The Albany, or simply Albany, is an apartment complex in Piccadilly, London. The three-storey mansion was built in the 1770s and divided into apartments in 1802. Building The Albany was built in 1771–1776 by Sir William Chambers for the new ...

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cour ...

, aged 74.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acworth, William Mitchell 1850 births 1925 deaths People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of London County Council Members of the Inner Temple Knights Bachelor Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India British economists Masters of Dulwich College People from Rothley English non-fiction writers Rail transport writers Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates English male non-fiction writers Railway officers in British India