Dictionary of Indian Biography/Ayrton, Acton Smee
AYRTON, ACTON SMEE (1816–1886)
Born 1816: son of Frederick Ayrton, barrister at Bombay: practised as a solicitor at Bombay, 1836–50, when he returned to England: Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway: called to the bar from the Middle Temple, 1853: M.P. for the Tower Hamlets, 1857–74: Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury in Gladstone's Administration, 1868–9: Privy Councillor: First Commissioner of Works, 1869–73: Judge Advocate General, 1873–4: defeated in his candidatures for the Tower Hamlets, 1874, and for the Mile End Division, 1885: died Nov. 30, 1886.