1594 Francis Acland

Constituency : Richmond  1906-10, Camborne 1910-22, Tiverton 1923-4, North Cornwall 1932-9

Francis  had  a  narrow  victory  over  the  Tories  in  Richmond.

Francis  was  the  son  of  the  former  MP  and  education  minister  Arthur  Acland. He  was  educated  at  Rugby  and  Oxford. He  started  work  in  local  government  in  Kensington  and  then  West  Yorkshire.

Francis  was  an  adherent  of  the  "New  Liberalism ". He  was  a  leading  supporter  of  female  suffrage.

Francis  served  as  Parliamentary  Private  Secretary  for  Haldane  at  the  War  Office  from  1906  to  1908. He  switched  to  Financial  Secretary  in  the  same  department  when  Asquith  took  over  in  1908

Francis  was  defeated  at Richmond  in  January  1910  then  switched  to  Camborne  for  the   December election.

In  1911  Francis  was  promoted  to  Under  secretary  of  state  under  Grey  at  the Foreign  Office.

In  February  1915,  Francis  became  Financial  Secretary  to  the  Treasury. In  June  1915  he  was  switched  to  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries. His  ministerial  career came  to  an  end  in  1916.

In  1917  Francis  chaired  a  Departmental  Committee  looking  into  unqualified  dentists. His  report  led  to  the  Dentists  Act  of  1921. This  established  the  Dental  Board  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  Francis  was  the  first  chairman, holding  the  post  until  his  death. He  was  also  instumental  in  setting  up  the  Forestry  Commission  and  remained  a  commissioner  until  his  death.

Francis  remained  loyal  to  Asquith  but  he  was  left  unmolested  at  Camborne  because  the  Conservative  candidate  was  stranded  in  India  .He  held  the  seat   narrowly  against  a  Labour  candidate. He  chaired  the  first  meeting  of  the  independent  LIberals  in  Parliament. He  opposed  Lloyd  George's  line  on  the  peace  process.

Francis  switched  to  Tiverton  for  the  1922  election, failing  to  unseat  the  Conservative  by  74  votes. Francis  took  the  seat  by  495  votes  at  a  by-election  shortly  afterwards  then  held  it  by  3  votes  in  the  general  election  of   1923. He  was  defeated  in  1924  and  Palmerston's  old  seat  hasn't  had  a  Liberal  MP  since.

Francis  succeeded  to  his  father's  baronetcy  in  1926.

Francis  stood  for  North  Cornwall  in  1932  after  the  death  of  Donald  Mclean. He  held  the  seat  for  the  Liberals  in  a  straight  fight  with  the  Tories  and  retained  it  in  1935.

Francis  was  a  champion  of  allotments.

He died  in  1939  aged  65. Both  his  sons  became  Liberal  MPs.